SF Giants’ use youth movement to beat Dodgers, Kershaw

Tyler Fitzgerald homered, and Tristan Beck tossed five strong innings as Giants used a season-high 8 rookies in 2-1 win.

SAN FRANCISCO — After years of killing the Giants, Max Muncy did something in their favor Saturday night.

First, Muncy made the curious choice to throw to second instead of tagging the lead runner on a ground ball from Thairo Estrada in the sixth inning. That gave the Giants runners at the corners and one out. Then, Muncy fumbled away another potential double play ball from Wilmer Flores, allowing Austin Slater to score from third.

That broke a 1-1 tie and, behind five strong innings from Tristan Beck, paved the way to a 2-1 win.

On a day that the Giants featured a season-high eight rookies, their rookie interim manager also reached a milestone — his first win. Kai Correa was greeted by a procession of hugs and high fives as players returned to the clubhouse, where the true celebration took place.

Sean Manaea wheeled Correa in a laundry basket into the manager’s office, where the rest of the roster showered him in Lagunitas IPAs and Powerade.

“The circumstances are unusual, or suboptimal,” Correa said after the game (but before the beer shower). “It meant a lot to me how excited those players were. … I think therapeutic is an unfair word, but I think winning can be a nice escape from everything else that has gone on, a reminder that’s the reason we’re here in the first place.”

The Giants don’t have much to brag about this season, but a win in the season finale Sunday would clinch the season series against their archrivals.

1) Bring on the kids

If the Giants hadn’t already shifted focus to 2024, well, consider Saturday’s lineup the official turning point.

With Mitch Haniger and J.D. Davis already on the injured list, fellow veterans Joc Pederson, Michael Conforto and Mike Yastrzemski rode the pine. Instead, the Giants started an entire outfield of rookies, populated the left side of their infield with first-year players and made up both components of their battery with rookies.

In case you lost track, that’s seven rookies in 10 possible spots.

They faced a stiff test — or, in the words of Correa, a “fun challenge” — with future Hall of Famer Clayton Kershaw starting for the Dodgers.

“We all saw the lineup last night and we were all pretty excited about it,” said Tyler Fitzgerald, who started in center field and contributed a third-inning solo shot.

Kershaw was in classic form, so it was more “challenge” than “fun” for most, but Fitzgerald won’t soon forget his first at-bat. Fitzgerald, the 12th and most recent rookie to debut this season, slugged a hanging curveball 414 feet into the left-field bleachers, the second home run of his career.

“He left one over the plate and I was able to do some damage,” Fitzgerald said. “He’s a great pitcher. He’s been doing it for so long. It just means a lot to be able to hit a home run off him, all the hard work I’ve put in, to see the results like that.”

Both Fitzgerald’s homers have come against the Dodgers. That’s one way to endear yourself to the fanbase.

“I’ve gotten to know Fitzy over these last couple years,” Beck said. “Seeing him get to take Clayton Kershaw deep, that was pretty cool, man. Obviously we’ve had a lot of rookies this season. We’re really tight. It’s a really close-knit group. It’s fun to see everyone having success.”

Opposing Kershaw, Beck continued to make his case to begin next season in the rotation with a strong showing against a dangerous Dodgers lineup.

Allowing one run over five innings, Beck coaxed pop ups from both halves of the best one-two punch in baseball, Mookie Betts and Freddie Freeman, in the first inning. He ended the third by inducing a double-play grounder off the bat of Freeman. But he couldn’t survive them a third time, allowing Betts to single home David Peralta for the one and only run he allowed in the fifth inning.

Between Keaton Winn on Friday, Beck on Saturday and Kyle Harrison in the season finale Sunday, the Giants will start rookies on three consecutive days (not counting openers) for the first time since 2003. That group — Kurt Ainsworth, Jerome Williams and Jesse Foppert — combined to make 84 starts for the Giants, so there’s hope that this trio carries more longevity.

For good measure, another rookie, Ryan Walker, took over for Beck and tossed two scoreless. That brought the total number of rookies to eight, the most to appear in a game this season — notable considering the club’s youth movement.

“I wish we would’ve put a few more runs on the board, but to come out with a win against the Dodgers anytime, it’s a big win,” Fitzgerald said. “I’m glad the rookies could come together and get it for us.”

2) Kershaw’s farewell?

Just like Sunday’s game might be Brandon Crawford’s last in a Giants uniform, Saturday might be Clayton Kershaw’s last-ever start at Oracle Park.

But, in both cases, we don’t know for sure.

Neither player has outlined their plans beyond this season.

Kershaw walked off the mound to applause from the contingent of Dodgers fans behind the first-base dugout after Muncy’s error. Both the Giants’ runs went on his record, raising his career ERA in 30 appearances at Oracle Park to 1.69, still the lowest in the ballpark’s history.

To get a sense of Kershaw’s dominance, this was the 11th time he has allowed two runs here. He’s allowed more than that twice. He’s allowed fewer 17 times.

In terms of stature, Correa compared Kershaw to LeBron James.

“He is that kind of caliber player of this generation,” Correa said. “I was just telling a story the other day on the bench. As a young coach, you try to be stoic and not get caught up by the bright lights or the famous people. There’s certain people that stop you in your tracks and there’s no overcoming that.

“I remember one day in pregame a handful of years ago, I’m hitting ground balls to a guy and Kershaw’s out doing his walk. He’s like, ‘Come on, Kai, give this guy some top spin!’ I’m thinking to myself, ‘Hey, he knows my name!’ He’s one of those people.”

3) Dodger blue

By the numbers, the Giants drew a strong Saturday night crowd of 39,253.

By the eye test, about a third of them were rooting for the visiting team.

The Giants’ post-pandemic attendance woes are no secret, nor is their archrivals’ semi-annual takeover of their waterfront ballpark. And with one team marching toward the postseason and the other marching out an interim manager, the sea of Dodger blue should come as no surprise.

Farhan Zaidi said the organization must “rethink everything” in the wake of their disappointing season, and that includes finding out way to field a more exciting product that appeals to fans. It’s all the more important given the choice for many is no longer a post-work walk down the Embarcadero but a commute from far-flung suburbs.

The Giants surpassed their 2022 attendance total Friday night and will only add to it in the season finale Sunday.

But in a year where attendance is up 9.3% league-wide, the Giants have seen less than a 1% per-game increase.