Pagan Hits a Walk Off Inside-the-Park Home; Giants Win 6-5

It was a long day for the San Francisco Giants but they somehow survived it.

Angel Pagan just after his Walk Off Inside the Park Home Run vs. the Rockies. 5-25-13 (Photo by Ezra Shaw of Getty Images)

The Giants had to fight back from a 4-run deficit against the Colorado Rockies. They did this with 3 runs in the 6th inning and then a 4th run in the 7th. However, the 7th inning should've been more than a tie for the Giants.

With one out and runners on 2nd and 3rd, Brandon Crawford hit a ground ball to the 2nd baseman DJ LeMahieu. Brandon Belt sees the grounder and heads for home plate causing LeMahieu to throw home. Belt gets under Yorvit Torrealba's tag just in time. However, home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez called him out despite the fact that Belt's foot hit home plate just before the tag was applied.

Next batter Joaquin Arias pinch hits for the pitcher's spot and flies out to end the inning with the game still tied at 4-4.

The bottom of the 8th comes around with another officiating mistake. With Marco Scutaro on 1st and 1 out, Pablo Sandoval hits a single to left center and, perhaps feeling a bit greedy, Scutaro heads for 3rd base. The throw to 3rd is on time but Scutaro manages to avoid the tag and slide into 3rd safely... except for the fact that home plate umpire Marquez came over and called Scutaro out on a tag that clearly didn't happen.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy goes out to argue about now the 2nd blown call by Marquez and is thrown out of the ball game. Buster Posey then pops out to 2nd to end the inning.

The game heads into extras where Troy Tulowitzki hit a home run to lead off the 10th inning to make it 5-4 for the Rockies. Now the bottom of the 10th comes with Rafael Betancourt coming in to close it out for Colorado.

However, Betancourt walks Brandon Crawford to start the inning and then Guillermo Quiroz pinch hits to just bunt Crawford over to 2nd. Angel Pagan then comes up clutch with a big hit that hits the bottom of the wall in right center. Crawford scores easily and Pagan, chugging along with 3rd base coach Tim Flannery waiving him in, manages to slide head first into home just before the tag.

No way to mess up that play at the plate, Marquez.

Giants win 6-5 in 10 innings on a walk off inside-the-park home run by Angel Pagan. They had to overcome the Rockies and sloppy officiating but the Giants win in one of the spectacular finishes you will see all season.

P.S. Seriously, baseball, you got to something about the umps. Better officiating and instant replay are needed more than ever. The right team somehow won today but that doesn't always happen, does it.

Scutaro and Pagan Stay with Giants

The San Francisco Giants recently were able to keep some parts of their lineup for the foreseeable future. First Angel Pagan was signed to a 4 year deal with the Giants for $40 million. Pagan was initially acquired in a trade before the 2012 season. Then the Giants resigned Marco Scutaro to a 3 year deal worth $20 million. Scutaro was acquired via a trade in the middle of the 2012 season and came through with several clutch hits in the NLCS and a hit that scored what turned out to be the series clinching run in the World Series.

A couple of good deals for the Giants as they look to secure the lineup. I would've thought all the money would be use to make sure the pitching staff stayed intact and up to par. This off season, though, didn't really call for a lot of negotiations with big pitchers. Just Brian Wilson and they let him go in favor of Sergio Romo and the rest of the bullpen that got along without him.

It's fine if the Giants want to make sure their lineup is secure but as long that this doesn't affect the rotation and the bullpen long term. They need to make sure their big bucks still goes to pitching.