SAN FRANCISCO — The pregame scene at Oracle Park on Friday afternoon — originally known as Pacific Bell Park when it opened 25 years ago — was an exercise in nostalgia.
The jumbotron featured a montage of the best moments in the ballpark’s two-and-a-half decades, from Barry Bonds’ milestone homers to Matt Cain’s perfect game to the World Series runs. The team recognized members of the 2000 Giants, a list featuring Bonds, J.T. Snow and Dusty Baker. Bonds then took the microphone and rallied the crowd, imploring the fans who supported the team over the last 25 years to rise to their feet.
Buster Posey, upon becoming San Francisco’s president of baseball operations, said the team was in the business of making memories. They created plenty during their first 25 years at this venue. And on Friday, the Giants and Seattle Mariners engaged in one of the more thrilling home openers in this ballpark’s history, a true see-saw affair that featured eight lead changes, 17 pitchers, 18 runs and 32 hits over 11 arduous innings.
In the end, it was San Francisco 10, Seattle 9, as Willy Adames, the franchise’s new $182 million dollar man, hit a walk-off, two-run single in the bottom of the 11th inning. The Giants are now 6-1, and in their longest game of the pitch clock era, they indeed made some memories.
Neither team could maintain control of the game for more than half an inning.
Both teams scored a run in the first. San Francisco scored two in the second on a double from LaMonte Wade Jr., but Seattle responded with two in the third when Justin Verlander walked the bases loaded, then allowed an RBI single to Jorge Polanco. 3-3.
Jung Hoo Lee contributed RBI singles in the bottom of the fourth, but Polanco tied it up just as fast with a two-run homer off Lou Trivinio. 5-5.
The Giants, once again, took the lead with a run in the fifth on Willy Adames’ RBI double, but coughed it up as Seattle scored three runs in the top of the sixth thanks in large part to an error by second baseman Tyler Fitzgerald, the Giants’ first error of the season. The deficit, appropriately, didn’t last long; Matt Chapman hit a solo homer, and Patrick Bailey legged out a potential inning-ending double play. 8-8.
The scoring ceased in the seventh and eighth, setting up a tie going into the ninth. Ryan Walker pitched a scoreless frame, setting the table for a walk-off, but the Giants couldn’t capitalize on a golden opportunity. San Francisco put a runner on third with no outs — Patrick Bailey doubled then Christian Koss, pinch-running for Bailey, advanced on a wild pitch, but the Giants couldn’t push him across. To the 10th inning the ballgame went, where Spencer Bivens and Andres Muñoz exchanged zeros. But in the 11th, the damn finally broke.
With Rodríguez up and the bases loaded, Bivens threw a wild pitch to the backstop that allowed Luke Raley to score from third, giving the Mariners a 9-8 lead. The Giants now had to respond. With a two-out, two-run single to right field in the bottom of the 11th, Adames sent the sellout crowd home happy.