SAN FRANCISCO -- Blake Sabol's first big league photo day taught him a valuable lesson. When you're the rookie, the prospect, or in Sabol's specific case, the Rule 5 pick, you spend much of your time sitting in folding chairs and waiting as more established players jump the line and smile for their pictures and promo videos.
In his second week in a big league camp, Sabol sat in a dark tent inside Scottsdale Stadium and watched as Brandon Crawford went through take after take in front of a large green screen. A video of one of Crawford's homers last season was played over and over again, and the team's longest-tenured player stood in front of it and reacted for the cameras. A few feet away, Sabol sat and watched, a smile on his face and one thought running through his head.
"That's really cool," he thought. "Hopefully, one day I get one of those."
He didn't have to wait long.
Sabol's best moment as a big leaguer doubled as the best moment of the season for the Giants, who all of a sudden have won four straight. Their first walk-off of the season came from an unexpected choice in a monumentally difficult moment, and it clinched a 5-4 win over a stunned St. Louis Cardinals team that's been equally disappointing early on.
Sabol's blast to dead center came off closer Ryan Helsely, who entered with a 2.08 ERA and possesses one of the best fastballs in MLB history. But Helsley tripled up on his slider and Sabol blasted the final one to dead center.
"It's a very challenging situation for a young hitter," manager Gabe Kapler said. "And you just don't see it end that way that often."
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Kapler almost had to search for the right words, because he couldn't flat-out say what he wanted to. Two outs, two strikes, against a pitcher that good ... that should be the ballgame.
It's especially unlikely to get that kind of game-winner from a rookie who is only a Giant because he wasn't put on the Pittsburgh Pirates 40-man roster in the offseason, one who had to fight all spring to win a job and was starting Tuesday's bullpen game because more experienced options like Roberto Perez and Joey Bart are hurt.
"That's about as tough a situation as you can dream up," Kapler said. "(Helsley has) a nasty off-speed pitch, he hits 101, and you're fighting for your life with two strikes. For him to get a swing off like that, it's pretty remarkable. That was a very, very unexpected outcome, not because Blake isn't very talented, but because of the situation of the game and who is on the mound.
"The at-bat started and he was very calm. Different than we've seen in those situations in the past where you just see a little bit of jumpiness. He saw the baseball early and made good swing decisions in the at-bat. It was only a couple of pitches, but enough to see that Blake had a poise and a calm about him. Obviously the moment wasn't too big for him."
The swing was one thing, but for it to come on this night of all nights made it even more special for the Giants staff. When Alex Cobb threw a shutout on Monday, they committed to a bullpen game to try and optimize matchups. Sabol, who converted to catching so recently that he has fewer than 100 starts behind the plate in the minors, was put in a difficult spot, but he deftly worked his way through nine innings with eight different pitchers.
After Sean Hjelle kept it a two-run game in the ninth, Mike Yastrzemski brought the ballpark back to life with a scorched double that cut the deficit in half. Helsley retired the next two and seemingly had a leg up on Sabol, but the young catcher hadn't just been paying attention to his own pitchers.
Sabol saw 20 pitches on the night and just one was a fastball. In his previous at-bat, Genesis Cabrera threw him only breaking balls.
"I kind of noticed throughout the game that it seemed to be their game plan, make him beat us on the off speed," Sabol said. "I think they know what I can do with fastballs in the zone. As that (last) at-bat went on and he kept going back to the slider -- he didn't even show me the fastball -- I was just sitting slider there. It happened to go my way."
Sabol said he knew the ball was gone as soon as he heard the crack of the bat, although that might be another example of just how new this all is to him. There are very few no-doubters in night games at Oracle Park, but Sabol hasn't been around long enough to know that.
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This is all fresh, but that's changing more and more by the day. The Giants took a chance on him in December and he won over the pitching staff by making phone calls and sending texts before anyone arrived in Scottsdale. Once there, he showed that he's capable of being a big-league option behind the plate.
The Giants didn't have many questions about Sabol's glove when they left Scottsdale, and Kapler has said repeatedly that his fate is actually pretty simple. If he hits enough, he'll stick on this roster, and his fourth homer of the month showed how much potential there is in the bat.
The walk-off blast was the first by a Giants catcher in six years and led to Sabol calling this "one of the best moments of my life." His adrenaline was still pumping as he checked his phone after the game, but a few minutes later, he had calmed down. He was asked to sum up this improbable journey from Rule 5 pick to walk-off hero, and he showed the trait that allowed him to come through in an impossible spot.
"There's always that confidence of knowing I belong here," he said.