The San Francisco Giants are currently in postseason position, and they keep performing well against good teams. They just beat the Philadelphia Phillies for the second straight night.
The Giants are 25-18 against teams above .500 this season. They have five more wins and three fewer losses against above .500 teams than the Los Angeles Dodgers. The Giants are chasing the Dodgers in the National League West, and just got a historic assist from their catcher. Patrick Bailey hit a three-run, inside-the-park, walk-off home run to beat the Phillies on Tuesday night. According to Yahoo Sports' Jack Baer, it was the first walk-off inside-the-park home run by a catcher since Bennie Tate in 1926.
"Bailey, one of the slower players in the majors with an average sprint speed of 25.6 feet per second, rumbled around the basepaths and scored the winning run with time to spare," wrote Baer. "Per Baseball Reference, it was the first inside-the-park walk-off homer by a catcher since Bennie Tate in 1926, nearly a century ago."
The Giants are still five games back of the Dodgers, but if they keep winning, they will make the division race tight again. The Dodgers are riddled with injuries and have now lost five straight. They have scored just two runs in their last two games against the Milwaukee Brewers.
Buster Posey has already made one blockbuster trade to help the Giants keep pace. Could another one be on the horizon? The Giants seem willing to make aggressive moves at the trade deadline to ensure a postseason run.
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Bailey became just the third catcher in history to hit an inside-the-park walk-off home run. It was the first walk-off inside-the-park home run, by any position, since 2016. He spoke about his thoughts after the game.
"Off the ball I just knew I got it well," Bailey said. "I saw it was towards Triples Alley, and I was like, 'Oh, I got to go. I at least got to get to third.' Once I saw the bounce, I was like, 'All right, just don't fall over.'"
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