SAN DIEGO - The Giants have had one of the better replay records in baseball since the system was installed, but that doesn't mean they're happy with the process. Several calls have baffled manager Bruce Bochy this season, and on Tuesday he couldn't understand how a fan wasn't called for interference for getting in the way of left fielder Chris Shaw's glove.
Shaw went back to the wall and leapt for a Franmil Reyes fly ball. He thought he was about to rob a homer for the first time in his career. Instead, a man in an aqua t-shirt got his hands in the way and pulled the ball into the seats.
"I just don't understand it. If that's not interference, I don't know what is," Bochy said. "The only thing they tell us is that it came from (the office) in New York. It looked like definite interference to me. I don't get it."
Luckily for the Giants, the call didn't cost them a win. Shaw made sure of that. The homer gave the Padres a one-run lead, but Shaw came up in the eighth with the bases loaded and poked a two-run bloop single into left. He thought he got enough of it for a sacrifice fly. It ended up being a positive that he didn't hit the ball as hard as he thought, though. Padres left fielder Hunter Renfroe's dive came up short and the Giants took a 5-4 lead that held up.
"I was pretty pissed off right there," Shaw said of the sequence that started with the fan robbing him. "I thought I had a chance to take two runs off the board. Coming up in that position, that's where you want to be."
Shaw got his first start against a lefty, but it was right-hander Craig Stammen on the mound in his biggest at-bat. Bochy liked that he put the ball in play.
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"Good things happen when you put it in play," he said. "He didn't hit it good, but he put it in play."
For a player plagued by strikeouts his first two weeks in the majors, that was a big moment. Nick Hundley scored easily and Brandon Crawford got an incredible read, nearly running up Hundley's back as he tagged at third. Third base coach Ron Wotus said he never even had a decision to make. Crawford saw that the ball was going to drop and he was headed home regardless. It gave Shaw a game-winning hit.
"That's incredible baserunning," Shaw said. "Obviously he's got great instincts."
--- The main story tonight is on Hunter Pence and his future.
--- Aramis Garcia has a hit in eight of his nine career games. Before this one, Bochy said Garcia will get a lot of starts at first over the next 10 games with Brandon Belt's knee ailing.
--- Will Smith recorded his 14th save, tying Hunter Strickland for the team lead. Smith gave up a double, but this one never seemed in much doubt. That's what he does, and there seems no doubt he'll enter next spring as the club's closer.
