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A Chat With Barry Bonds Helped Joc Pederson Sink the Mets

SAN FRANCISCO — Joc Pederson turned a pair of pregame chats with home run king Barry Bonds into the best night of his career.

Pederson homered three times and drove in a career-high eight runs, including a tying single with two outs in the ninth inning, and the San Francisco Giants outslugged the Mets, 13-12, on Tuesday in one of the wildest games imaginable.

“Just getting knowledge from such a good hitter and the way he thinks about baseball and hitting, it just helped to connect some dots to free my mind up at the plate,” Pederson said. “I’m not ever going to be Barry Bonds. He’s the best hitter to touch a bat. But it definitely helped free my mind up in the box.”

Brandon Crawford hit a game-winning single off closer Edwin Díaz. The Giants — after blowing a late six-run lead — somehow recovered to pull off two improbable comebacks of their own.

Francisco Lindor homered and drove in six runs for the Mets, including a bases-loaded triple that put them ahead in a seven-run eighth.

Pederson was preparing for the game when he and teammate LaMonte Wade Jr. spent 30 minutes with Bonds in the Giants’ clubhouse. Pederson and Bonds chatted again in a private office before Pederson politely excused himself.

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“Relax, all right? Don’t try to strike everybody out. Strikeouts are boring! Besides that, they’re fascist. Throw some ground balls, it’s more democratic.”

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“The next thing you know it was like 6:25 p.m. and I was like, `I gotta go,’” Pederson said.

San Francisco squandered an 8-2 cushion by giving up two runs in the seventh and seven in the eighth to fall behind, 11-8. Pederson tied it with a three-run homer in the bottom half, but the Giants trailed, 12-11, in the ninth before rallying with two outs and none on to stun New York and end their five-game losing streak.

“He was joking about it after his first one, about talking to Barry,” Giants starter Logan Webb said of Pederson. “Then he hit the second, then he hit the third and it was like, man, this guy is something else. You’re not going to cheat him with anything. He’s trying to do that every at-bat.”

Pederson launched a pair of two-run homers off Mets starter Chris Bassitt. San Francisco’s slumping cleanup hitter then crushed his third homer of the night, a three-run drive into McCovey Cove off reliever Drew Smith with two outs in the eighth to erase New York’s 11-8 lead.

“He had a good night against us,” Mets Manager Buck Showalter said. “We missed a lot of locations with fastballs tonight. That’s not the way we’ve been doing it for the most part, so tonight was a challenge for us.”

The Mets had gone ahead in the ninth on Brandon Nimmo’s sacrifice fly after Dominic Smith’s leadoff triple.

But in the bottom half, Mike Yastrzemski walked with two outs and Darin Ruf singled. Pederson’s single tied it and Crawford, who struck out three times earlier, followed with a sharp single off Díaz (1-1) that drove in Ruf.

It was the third blown save for Díaz. John Brebbia (2-0) got the win.

Jose Trevino’s big day for the Yankees included a walk-off single in the 11th inning.Credit…Jason Szenes/EPA, via Shutterstock

Trevino’s Big Day Ends Yankees Losing Streak

Jose Trevino stood next to his pinstriped teammates, hands on his head, and looked around at the celebration he’d just set off at Yankee Stadium.

Exactly the moment he and his father dreamed about together. Until Joe Trevino died in 2013.

Tears welled in Jose’s eyes as the moment set in. This was the best birthday present he could have given his dad.

“It would have been awesome for him to be here,” he said. “But I know he’s watching.”

Trevino hit a game-ending single in the 11th inning to rally the ailing Yankees past the Baltimore Orioles, 7-6, on Tuesday night, ending a three-game skid and capping an emotional day that also included his second homer of the season and a tying single in the seventh.

Trevino began what would have been Joe Trevino’s 69th birthday by sipping coffee out of his father’s favorite mug. He ended it with a most unexpected moment for a player acquired just before opening day as a glove-first backup catcher.

Joe Trevino had lived this moment with his son over and over.

“My dad was a huge Yankees fan,” Jose Trevino said. “He would always put me in these scenarios. He always said, ‘Ninth inning, down one, you need a base hit here to tie the game or win the game at Yankee Stadium.’

“He always said, like, ‘I’m preparing you to be a Yankee, always,’” he added.

Trevino’s solo homer in the third helped New York build a 3-0 lead, and his single in the seventh tied it at 5.

Austin Hays hit an R.B.I. groundout in the top of the 11th off winner Clarke Schmidt (3-2), adding to his solo homer that helped the Orioles erase their early deficit and putting pressure on the Yankees to score in the bottom of the inning.

Isiah Kiner-Falefa plated automatic runner Gleyber Torres — who homered twice — to tie it, spoiling Bryan Baker’s bid for his first big league save. Marwin Gonzalez followed with another single, and Trevino then scorched the winning hit off Baker (1-2) into the left-field corner.

Trevino raised his arms as he rounded first, then was swarmed near second base by teammates. The first-year Yankee stepped out of the scrum and briefly soaked in the scene by himself.

“You get to wear pinstripes, you have fun with it and you take advantage of it,” the 29-year-old said. “And even if you’re wearing them, you don’t get to wear them forever, so enjoy it while you have it.”

Yankees Depth Will Be Tested

Isiah Kiner-Falefa, Marwin Gonzalez and Jose Trevino combined for six hits from the bottom three slots in the order, which helped the Yankees overcome injuries to D.J. LeMahieu and Giancarlo Stanton. LeMahieu was scratched shortly before first pitch with left wrist discomfort, and Stanton was replaced by pinch-hitter Estevan Florial in the seventh because of right calf tightness.

LeMahieu had an M.R.I. that came back clean. He received a cortisone shot but could be back within a day or two. Stanton will have an M.R.I. on Wednesday.

The Yankees also added closer Aroldis Chapman to the injured list Tuesday, and sluggers Joey Gallo and Josh Donaldson remain on the Covid-19 I.L. Gonzalez, who replaced LeMahieu at third, was hit by a pitch in the right hand in the seventh but stayed in the game.

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