Brandon Crawford didn’t realize he got an opportunity to join a few Hall of Famers when he thought of the bases stacked in the ninth inning Monday afternoon. All he knew was that he was confronting something he hadn’t previously found in the big leagues.
Crawford dug in and looked up at Mark Reynolds, a first baseman who was asked to mop it up on the mound in the ninth inning of the Giants’ 19-2 succeed at Coors Field. Reynolds was the first position player Crawford had looked in the big leagues.
“It was a weird feeling,” Crawford said. “But it’s bases loaded, one out — it’s still an at-bat that counts.”
Crawford ensured that, bouncing a single up the middle to drive in two additional runs. He completed with eight RBI, tying a San Francisco Giants record previously shared by Willie Mays and Orlando Cepeda. He became the first shortstop in MLB history to record five hits and eight RBI in one game. Crawford said the huge day was because of his teammates.
“I hit with a lot of guys on base, that was nice,” he said. “The whole lineup contributed.”
That was seldom the situation in the first three months of the season. Be that as it may, in the days paving the way to the break, people could see Crawford, Buster Posey and different individuals from the core beginning to turn it on, mixing in with Alex Dickerson, Austin Slater and other newcomers.
Crawford took a five-game hitting streak into the game and included three walks throughout the end of the week in Milwaukee. The breakout came Monday. He homered in the first to help the Giants to take a 5-0 lead and added a long shot to right in the 6th.
In one game, Crawford raised his average from .226 to .239. His OPS hopped from .654 to .695. That is difficult to do about 100 games into the season – except if people have the sort of day that has you in a similar organization as Hall of Famers.
“I’ve been feeling good,” Crawford said. “I’m seeing the ball well. You expect to get hits when that happens.”