Longo turns back clock, takes over Giants’ much-needed win originally appeared on NBC Sports Bayarea
On a day when the Colorado Rockies wore their futuristic City Connect uniforms, Evan Longoria turned back the clock.
In another season plagued by injuries, the veteran third baseman had one of his best games in recent years, helping the Giants pull out a wild 9-8 win over the Rockies in 11 innings on Sunday at Coors Field.
Longoria’s fingerprints were all over the game and the box score doesn’t do him justice.
The 36-year-old went 3-for-4 at the plate with a double, a grand slam, two runs scored, and a walk. On the field, he made several impressive plays, capping off his day by making an incredible tag on Sam Hilliard to end the game.
“It was the tag,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler told reporters in Denver postgame. “It was the [Garrett] Hampson chopper that he barehanded. It was the comfort level he had going to his left and to his right. It was the awareness on the backhand to just drop the ball in the grass and not try to do too much with it when other third basemen are going to try to fire the ball across the diamond. I think Longo knows himself very well and when his body is working for him, he’s as good as anybody.”
Sunday’s game was just the 60th Longoria has been able to play this year.
He started the year on the IL with a finger injury. An oblique strain landed him back on the IL in July. He returned from that injury after just 10 days, but a week later, a hamstring strain put him back on the shelf.
Since coming off the IL on Aug. 8, Longoria is now 10-for-30 with two homers and seven RBI.
In what is expected to be his final year with the Giants — the team holds a $13 million option which includes a $5 million buyout — Longoria showed Sunday that he still can play like the three-time All-Star and AL Rookie of the Year he was during his time with the Tampa Bay Rays.
“I think it’s been a difficult year for Longo on a number of different levels,” Kapler told reporters. “His body just hasn’t cooperated and bounced back the way he’s wanted it to. But I don’t think anybody doubts the talent level. On a day like today where he sort of just took the game over, and kind of looked like the best all-around player on the field, you recognize how much he has left in the tank. And it’s a lot. He’s still an excellent athlete, capable of changing the game with his glove and his bat and his presence. And we saw that on display today.”
On the play that ended the game, everything had to align just right for the Giants. LaMonte Wade Jr. had to make a perfect throw and Longoria had to execute a swipe tag as fast as he could.
Even in real-time, it was hard to tell if Longoria actually touched Hilliard’s cleat before the Rockies’ outfielder reached third base.
On the field, Hilliard was called safe, but the Giants called for a replay review. Upon slow-motion inspection, the umpires determined that Longoria had applied the tag.
“I mean, I knew I touched him,” Longoria told reporters after the game. “And I purposely put myself out in front of the bag to get his foot hopefully before he got to the bag. Really, the credit goes to LaMonte. He put the throw right on the money and gave me a chance to put the tag on him. [Hilliard’s] a pretty tall guy. I didn’t know if he was actually touching the bag when I touched him but it kind of went according to plan.”
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As meaningful as the play to end the game was, Longoria was asked by reporters to pick his favorite play from the whole game and it was one that happened a few innings earlier.
Rockies shortstop Garrett Hampson chopped a ball off the plate, forcing Longoria to do the only thing possible: Barehand the ball out of the air and make a throw in one motion. Amazingly, Longoria’s throw beat Hampson to first.
“That’s a play — I’ve made a few of them — but none like that,” Longoria said. “And a guy that can run like that, it’s really a do-or-die play. So it was a pretty cool play.”
Whether it was his grand slam, the barehanded play, or the game-ending swipe tag, Longoria had a vintage game and the best part for him is that it came in a win for the Giants.
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