SAN FRANCISCO — Before the 10th inning rolled around on Monday, Austin Slater’s season had been, in a word, forgettable. He’s battled injuries, recovering from right elbow surgery in the spring and a concussion in recent weeks. And when he’s been on the field, he hasn’t performed.
Those struggles made Slater’s second career walk-off so much more satisfying.
In his third game back from the injured list, Slater drove in the game-winning run in the 10th inning with a booming line drive off the left-field wall, capping off a three-run rally as the Giants beat the Astros, 4-3, on Monday at Oracle Park.
“Whenever you can come through big for your team in a spot when you’re struggling, it feels that much better,” Slater said. “That definitely lifted a big weight off my shoulders. That felt really nice.”
Slater’s season has been abnormal from the beginning. The 31-year-old spent most of spring training recovering from right elbow surgery, limiting him to nine Cactus League games. Slater made the Opening Day roster, but posted a .434 OPS over 49 plate appearances before going on the injured list in mid-May with a concussion.
During spring training, Slater admitted he “lost a little bit of the edge.” His primary focus was to get through the games healthy. That mindset resulted in him not taking at-bats with a purpose. To regain that edge, Slater talked with sports psychologists he’s worked with in the past.
“It’s something that (Mike Yastrzemski) and I promote, but sometimes, you forget,” Slater said. “You need to talk to people when you’re struggling, and that was definitely something that helped.”
Slater had a walk-off opportunity in the bottom of the ninth, pinch-hitting for Yastrzemski to face left-hander Josh Hader to begin the frame. Giants manager Bob Melvin’s decision to pinch-hit Slater, who popped out in foul territory, for Yastrzemski was a justifiable yet interesting one.
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Up to that point, Yastrzemski had generated San Francisco’s only run up to that point, a 406-foot RBI triple that would’ve been a home run in every other ballpark. Yastrzemski also had history with Hader, having hit a walk-off grand slam off the southpaw in 2022. Yastrzemski, though, entered play with a career .686 OPS against lefties compared to Slater’s .816 OPS.
“It’s tough for a lefty off Hader,” Melvin said. “(Yastrzemski) had a home run earlier in his career off of him, but leading off an inning, too, it’s a walk, it’s a little more speed. Yaz has the only RBI of the game, but Hader’s a really tough at-bat for a lefty.”
After Slater and the Giants (33-34) were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, the Astros (30-37) began the 10th inning by putting up two runs to take a 3-1 lead.
Victor Caratini capped off an 11-pitch plate appearance against Erik Miller by driving in Joey Loperfido with a sacrifice fly, giving the Astros the one-run lead. Following Jose Altuve’s bunt single, Alex Bregman drove in Trey Cabbage, who reached on his own bunt single, giving the Astros a two-run advantage.
San Francisco, though, had its response.
Brett Wisely led off the bottom of the 10th with a sharp single to drive in Casey Schmitt, slicing the deficit to one run. Heliot Ramos reached on an infield single (originally called an error by shortstop Jeremy Peña), putting runners on first and second with no outs. Patrick Bailey followed Ramos with a bloop single to drive in Wisely and tie the ballgame. Then Michael Conforto loaded the bases as reliever Rafael Montero misplayed a comebacker.
After Jorge Soler grounded into a force out — Ramos curiously froze at third base instead of running home — Slater hit a line drive over Loperfido’s head and off the wall to drive in Bailey and secure the win. Slater joked that he would’ve liked to have his first extra-base hit of the season, but he was more than content with the walk-off.
“He’s such a good team guy,” said starter Kyle Harrison. “That’s the guy you want having that at-bat and having that opportunity. I’m glad he came through. He’s the man.”
Before Slater’s heroics, Harrison, who said he was feeling a little under the weather, dazzled by allowing just one earned run across 6 1/3 innings on 77 pitches with three strikeouts. Monday marked a bounceback for Harrison, who had allowed 17 earned runs over 26 innings (5.88 ERA) in his last five starts.
“This was just his best stuff we’ve seen in a while today,” Melvin said.