Casali does it again, lifting Giants past A's 6-5 in 10th

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The San Francisco Giants are the majors' first team to 50 wins, and backup catcher Curt Casali's steady contributions have been a huge part of that success.

The fabulous fill-in did it again with his bat, hitting a game-ending double in the 10th inning as the Giants beat the Oakland Athletics 6-5 on Saturday night.

Casali started behind the plate for a second straight day for ailing star Buster Posey.

"He takes a lot of pride in kind of serving his team, serving the pitcher, serving Buster, serving all of us,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Pretty selfless individual.”

Matt Chapman hit a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the top of the inning after saving a run with a brilliant throw home minutes earlier but Steven Duggar quickly tied it on a single in the bottom half against Burch Smith (1-1). Duggar scored from first on Casali's hit that bounced to the deep corner in left to end the 4-hour, 5-minute game.

The Giants took the Bay Bridge Series opener 2-0 on Friday and have either won or split their last 10 series dating to May 25, matching the Yankees for the longest such mark in the majors this year.

“Awesome!” pitcher Alex Wood said. “If you love baseball and are even a casual fan, watching our lineup every night, it’s just unbelievable.”

Brandon Crawford scored the tying run. He had singled sharply to left with two outs in the ninth but LaMonte Wade Jr. was thrown out at home on Chapman's relay.

Chapman's fly came against eventual winner Jake McGee (3-2).

“It sucks definitely losing that game. It’s been a fun two games considering the atmosphere. It’s nice to play in front of a lot of fans and I know how excited the Bay Area gets for this series,” Chapman said. “We’re playing a team that has the best...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Casali-does-it-again-lifting-Giants-past-A-s-6-5-16277073.php