MIAMI -- A day after Brandon Crawford tied a record with seven hits, a Giant brought up an interesting scenario: What if the Marlins had pitched around him in the 14th? Crawford had six hits already and the No. 6 hitter, Hunter Pence, had four strikeouts. It would have been an unorthodox bases-loading move, but it probably wouldn't have surprised Bruce Bochy, who watched the whole game from a hospital bed.
"Hunter will tell you his timing is off," Bochy said. "But the way you get it back is by playing. He's off a little bit -- that's fair to say."
Bochy said Pence will play all three games here in Miami. He feels fine physically, and that black-and-blue eye hasn't hurt his vision. The Giants think Pence is simply slumping. In his last 20 at-bats, Pence has just three hits and 13 strikeouts. To take some pressure off, he was kept in the sixth spot even with Buster Posey out. Crawford will hit cleanup and Conor Gillaspie will bat fifth.
Speaking of Posey, his finger is fine and he'll be available to pinch-hit. He's out of the lineup today because he caught a game that took five hours and 34 minutes. A day later, Bochy was able to laugh about Posey's slide, but in the moment it was scary.
"I got to see it a lot on TV," Bochy said. "I think I saw it 20 times. We're lucky he didn't get hurt."
--- If you missed it last night, here's my story on Crawford's record performance. Elias Sports Bureau dug a little deeper and said Crawford was actually the sixth player all-time to get at least seven hits. Wilbert Robinson first did it in 1892. The record is nine by Johnny Burnett of the Indians in 1932.
--- One of the things that was lost last night: Joe Panik drew four walks. He's the sixth Giant to do that since the end of the Bonds Era. "I also had that sacrifice bunt. How many guys get two official at-bats in a 14-inning game?" he asked. That seems pretty rare, too.
--- Here's the update on Bochy. All is fine.
--- Last night's win was the fifth in which the Giants trailed by four or more runs. They're tied with the Mariners and Cardinals for the MLB lead.
--- One more link for you: A recap of July.
