SAN FRANCISCO_Throughout the year, the Giants have celebrated their 60th anniversary in San Francisco by welcoming back legends and heroes from all of their memorable teams.
The franchise honored World Series clubs, division title winners and record-setters like Barry Bonds with pregame ceremonies on the field. During Tuesday's 5-4, 12-inning win over the San Diego Padres, a pair of veteran outfielders threw their own tribute.
Pending free agents Hunter Pence and Gregor Blanco will soon wave goodbye to the Giants, ending tenures that included memorable moments both on the field and off of it.
Although their best days are in the rearview mirror, Pence and Blanco kept the club driving straight ahead in the seventh inning of Tuesday's comeback win. Five innings later, the Giants needed someone to pull the car off the road.
They settled on Madison Bumgarner.
After center fielder Gorkys Hernandez led off the inning with a triple, Bumgarner drilled a single past third base to send the Giants home as winners.
With the Giants trailing 3-2 in the seventh inning, Pence lined his second hit of the game up the middle against Padres reliever Robert Stock. The crowd rises to its feet each time Pence strolls to the plate, and it did the same for Blanco when he was announced as a pinch-hitter.
After falling behind 0-1, Blanco ripped a 99-mile per hour fastball into the left field corner, bringing home rookie Chris Shaw from third while Pence raced all the way around the bases to score the go-ahead run.
While Pence and Blanco have designs on continuing their careers next season, it's unlikely either player will receive an opportunity in San Francisco. It's even more unlikely the duo will lead another rally together, but on Tuesday, the Giants took a break from worrying about the future and celebrated two players who have contributed so much to the franchise's storied past.
The win helped the Giants avoid their second straight 90-loss season, and while they aren't jockeying for position in the National League West standings, they learned Tuesday they'll still have an opportunity to affect the division race.
That opportunity will come in their season-ending three-game series against the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers this weekend.
With a 10-3 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies Tuesday, the Colorado Rockies closed their deficit to a half game in the NL West. Regardless of how the top two teams in the division perform over the next two days, the Giants will have a chance to crush the Dodgers' playoff dreams.
Not much the Giants have done in the month of September has mattered. Their games this weekend against the reigning five-time NL West champions will.
So too will their goodbyes to Pence and Blanco, who didn't take part in ceremonies honoring the 2012 and 2014 World Series winners at AT&T Park earlier this season. Eventually, both will be invited back to San Francisco and they'll have the chance to walk out onto the field, wearing their rings with pride.
This year, though, Pence and Blanco felt they still had enough left in the tank to wear something else with pride. And on Tuesday, they felt pretty comfortable in those Giants uniforms.
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