X-rays come back negative on Watson's wrist
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ST. LOUIS -- Giants setup man Tony Watson may have saved San Francisco's 9-8 win over the Cardinals with his lunging tag on Kolten Wong in the eighth inning on Wednesday, but the defensive highlight didn¡¯t come without some sacrifice.
Fortunately for the lefty reliever, the only remaining wound a day later were the scratches up his right arm, which he landed on after completing the play. X-rays on Watson¡¯s left wrist came back negative, meaning that he should miss no time as a result of the tumble.
¡°I just wanted to get it checked out to make sure,¡± Watson said on Thursday. ¡°Got a little road rash on the elbow here, but it¡¯s all good.¡±
Watson, pitching for a second straight day, took the mound in the eighth and had the potential tying run looming at second when Wong popped up a bunt. Watson pounced off the mound to field the ball, and, with no one covering first, sprinted that way himself. He dove at Wong and landed awkwardly on the ground.
¡°Ideally, it was catch it in the air and maybe get a double play at second. But it just died,¡± Watson said. ¡°I went for the barehand for some reason, tried to flip it to [first baseman Austin] Slater and realized he wasn¡¯t there. Then I realized it was Wong, and he¡¯s pretty fast. So I was either going to try to lay out like a 34-year-old guy and make the tag, or everybody is going to be safe and we have a real situation on our hands. I¡¯m just glad it worked out.¡±
First-base umpire Cory Blaser initially ruled Wong safe. A replay review, however, confirmed that Watson¡¯s glove had swiped Wong¡¯s leg, and the call was overturned.
¡°That saved us,¡± Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ¡°That¡¯s one of the better plays I¡¯ve seen. You¡¯ve got speed going down the line. With how quick he was, he found a way to get an out there and saved the game probably for us.¡±
By challenging the call, Bochy also allocated a little bit of extra time for closer Will Smith to get warm in the bullpen. Smith took over from there and struck out Paul Goldschmidt en route to earning the first four-out save of his career and his 31st overall of 2019.
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Minor Matters
Four Giants affiliates opened postseason play on Tuesday. Here¡¯s a look at how each fared:
? Triple-A Sacramento (best-of-five): The River Cats fell, 9-3, to Las Vegas (A¡¯s) in Ryan Halstead¡¯s first Triple-A start since Aug. 3. He allowed seven earned runs on five hits and two walks over four innings. Center fielder Mike Gerber paced the offense with three hits and two RBIs.
? Class A Advanced San Jose (best-of-five): San Jose fell, 3-1, to Visalia (D-backs) after Justin Vernia took a perfect game into the seventh. San Jose starter Aaron Phillips was knocked around early and charged with three runs over six innings.
? Class A Augusta (best-of-three): A pair of eighth-inning errors opened the door for Lexington (Royals) to steal a 2-1 win over the GreenJackets. Augusta¡¯s only hit was a game-tying home run by Tyler Fitzgerald in the seventh inning. Starter Norwith Gudino scattered three hits and allowed one run in a 5 2/3-inning no-decision.
? Short-Season Salem-Keizer (best-of-three): The Volcanoes were handed a 2-1, walk-off loss to squander an early lead provided by Yorlis Rodriguez¡¯s fourth-inning home run. Liover Peguero delivered the game-winning knock for Hillsboro (D-backs) after Salem-Keizer opened the ninth with an error.