Before the top of the ninth inning Sunday, Giants manager Gabe Kapler looked up and down his lineup card and tried to find the best position player to soak up an inning and save a bullpen arm.
Pablo Sandoval has been an easy choice in recent years, but he's coming off Tommy John surgery. Brandon Belt is probably still too important a player for the Giants to let him fulfill his longtime goal, and he's banged up anyway. Perhaps one day Kapler will let Brandon Crawford relive his UCLA days on the mound, but on this day another Bruin was the choice.