A double shot of whiskey, Barbie dress-up day and a much-needed win leave SF Giants in good spirits, despite lackluster series vs. Rockies

DENVER — A paper cup filled to the brim with brown liquid sat next to the porterhouse covered in tin foil on the desk inside the visiting manager’s office here Sunday afternoon. It’s a tradition of Joc Pederson’s to pour Gabe Kapler and his teammates a shot of whiskey after a win.

“He was like, ‘You need a double today,’ ” Kapler said after the Giants emerged victorious, barely, 11-10, over the Rockies, in a Coors Field special that allowed them to escape this four-game series with one victory and their playoff hopes hanging by a thread. “It’s gonna be useful.”

Between the win, the whiskey and the Brandon Crawford-Ross Stripling devised Barbie movie dress-up day, the Giants boarded their charter flight in good spirits, despite their once lights-out closer very nearly wasting their best offensive showing in ages.

Crawford’s three-run homer into the Rockies bullpen should have been a knockout punch, the biggest blow of an eight-run sixth inning that opened a 9-0 lead. They handed an 11-6 lead over to Camilo Doval in the ninth inning, and after a couple hits, a hit batter and an error charged to Doval when he was unable to field soft grounder, Taylor Rogers was required to record the final out.

“A little more interesting than we wanted at the end,” Crawford said. “But I’ve played a lot of games here. I know a five-run lead is not necessarily safe.”

Charlie Blackmon stepped to the plate as the would-be winning run, but Rogers coaxed a soft liner that landed in the glove of Thairo Estrada at second base for the final out. On the other side of the diamond, J.D. Davis hung his head and put his hands on his knees, appearing to breath a sigh of relief.

“Unfortunately, losing three out of four here is not ideal,” said outfielder Mitch Haniger, who ignited the sixth-inning rally with his second double of the game, a two-run shot that carried over the head of center fielder Brenton Doyle and to the wall. “We’ve had some tough ones, but to leave here with a win, it’s really important. We’ve got to keep winning ballgames. Every single game the rest of the season is the biggest game.”

In the sixth inning, a dozen Giants came to bat and eight of them crossed the plate, practically matching their offensive output from the first three games of this series. With doubles from Pederson and Mike Yastrzemski joining the big knocks from Crawford and Haniger, they equaled their number of extra-base hits (four) and home runs (one) from their three losses the past two days in one inning.

The home run was Crawford’s seventh of the season and first since Aug. 1 — only the Giants’ second of the three-run variety since July 18. Their 11 runs were two more than they scored over all of their first three games, while their 14 hits were only four short of the three-game total.

“It was nice to see us break out,” Kapler said. “We always talk about the big innings being really important to our success, and we put one up there.”

Crawford, the victim of a number of tough-luck outs on hard-hit balls, squared up a two-strike fastball from reliever Matt Koch. As soon as it left his bat, at 99.6 mph, according to Statcast, Crawford said felt “relieved” to put good wood on a pitch and not make an out.

“I didn’t even care if it was a homer, as long as nobody caught it, really,” Crawford said. “Really since coming off the IL, I’ve been feeling really good with my swing, putting together good at-bats, walking more than I was before, making some good contact and just finding glove, which is really frustrating.”

It was a well-rounded effort, with hits from all 10 players who received an at-bat and multiple base knocks from four of them, and an impressive show of force, to be sure, but with only a dozen games remaining, after dropping the three easiest games left on their schedule the previous two nights, was it too late?

Not if you ask the rambunctious and brightly dressed group in the visitor’s clubhouse.

“Hopefully stringing together some hits gave us some confidence,” Crawford said. “Obviously these games coming up are important.”

The Giants will be a hard group to miss when their flight touches down in Phoenix. The final road trip of the season reaches its second and arguably most important stop with two games against the Diamondbacks, starting Tuesday. With 12 games to play, the Giants (76-74) still trail three teams for the final National League wild card, two games back of Arizona (78-72) and Miami (78-72) and 1½ behind Cincinnati (78-73).

They’ll have their aces, Alex Cobb and Logan Webb, on the mound in their two most important games of the season, which not only present opportunities to make up ground in the crowded wild card race but, with one win, will give the Giants the upper hand in practically every tiebreaker scenario.

All eyes will be on them this week, but on Sunday, it was Keaton Winn and Sean Manaea who were the pitchers drawing the most attention in the postgame clubhouse.

Manaea, who made his second start since returning to the rotation and worked five shutout innings before running into trouble in the sixth, was rocking a pink sequin short sleeve button-up, while Winn was denim-clad from head-to-toe, with the exception of the shaggy blond wig on his head. They were two highlights of the club’s dress-up day, an annual tradition in baseball clubhouses that has been modified in recent years with the league cracking down on rookie hazing.

Manaea, a veteran, took part, and Crawford made sure to point out that everyone in the clubhouse was given a choice to participate.

If pitching doesn’t work out, Winn might have a future as a Ken impersonator — “His wig fits perfect,” Crawford said — but Blake Sabol might have been the star of the show. He does everything with enthusiasm, and this was no exception, confidently strutting around in a white fur coat and rainbow-colored pants.

“I watched the Barbie movie this year, and I feel like I’m Mojo Dojo House Ken,” Sabol said. “I think that’s what they were going for. I’m a big fan. Hopefully they let me keep this.”