Wow! What a game.

This one was a hard-fought road win with LaMonte Wade, Jr, getting it done in the clutch once again.

“Late Night LaMonte, that’s what everybody’s been calling him,” said starter Kevin Gausman, “It seems like he always comes up in a big situation and has a good-quality at-bat and puts the ball in play and has been a huge part of what we’ve done this year. You can’t speak enough about how well he’s been able to play this year in so many different spots.” – Associated Press

• AP also noted it was the fifth time since the All-Star break that Wade delivered a tying or go-ahead hit in the ninth.

This pitched battle started with a Tommy La Stella homer in the first at-bat of the game, matched by a Manny Machado homer in the bottom of the first to tie it, 1-1. The Padres went after Kevin Gausman with vigor. In the second, Fernando Tatis drove in a run with an RBI single, with two on. Gausman did well to avoid allowing any other runners across the plate. Then Machado homered off Gausman again in the third and was joined by Tommy Pham who hit a solo shot as well. Padres 4, Giants 1.

But the Giants were patient and crept back into it with good defense, and by scoring two runs in the fifth and in the sixth, even taking the lead briefly 5 – 4.

Aaron Nola homered off Zach Littell to tie it in the bottom of the sixth and it stayed tied, 5 – 5, until the ninth, because of brilliant defense by both sides, including a great catch by Will Myers that robbed Steven Duggar of a homer.

Late Night LaMonte’s clutch RBI gave the Giants the lead, but it was by no means secure. The place was rocking and fans, desperate for a Padres win, went nuts when Crawford, of all people, finally made a mistake against the lead off hitter in the bottom of the ninth.

Tyler Rogers was asked to save this and might have started off on the right foot, if not for the rarest of events, a fielding error by Brandon Crawford (that’s not a typo, the ball just rolled under his glove as he charged and misjudged it), putting Will Myers on first with nobody out and Tatis, Jake Cronenworth and Machado due up. High pressure situation.

Tyler Rogers fell behind Tatis, 3-1. With thousands of screaming Padres fans awaiting the walk-off hit. He then struck him out looking with two, perfectly placed, four-seam fastballs. wicked.

But with one down it wasn’t over.

Cronenworth hit a high, slow chopper for an infield hit, putting two on for Manny Machado, who had already homered twice in this game.

Machado fouled off the first pitch. He hit the second sharply to Brandon Belt who scooped it and fired it to Crawford, who made a deft, right-foot tag of second base to get the force out of Cronenworth, and then fired the ball back to Rogers, covering first, to just barely get Machado! wow! Bang! Bang! 3-6-1 game-ending double play! Giants win!

Tony Watson, who pitched a critical, scoreless bottom of the eighth, got the win. Tyler Rogers who battled back under duress aided by that incredible double-play, got the save.

Great win. Hard fought. Came back and won it and held off the Padres on the road. The Dodgers had won at Colorado on extras, earlier in the day, and this win kept us a game ahead in the standings. Huge win. Excellent performance.

Giants 6, Padres 5

By the way, The Stylish was on my head in rallycap position during Late Night’s winning RBI. The Stylish is now 17-5, and amazingly was involved in FOUR of Wade’s five clutch ninth inning performances!

This unbelievable season of dominance by the Giants and Dodgers, racing ahead of the pack, continues. Who will be first to 100 wins? I don’t know but if both teams achieve the century mark it will be the first time that has happened in the “NL West” since 1993, before the new divisions, when it was of course, the Giants and Braves.

2021 National League West Standings

TEAM	W	L	PCT	GB	STRK
San Francisco	98	53	.649	0	W1
Los Angeles	97	54	.642	1	W3
San Diego	76	74	.507	21.5	L4
Colorado	70	80	.467	27.5	L2
Arizona	48	103	.318	50	L3