Basabe's Ninth-Inning Error Hands Pittsburgh a Wild 13-12 Win

San Francisco erased a six-run deficit to tie it at 12 in the eighth, then watched it all unravel on a throwing error by third baseman Basabe in the ninth. Pittsburgh walked off 13-12 in one of the messiest, most compelling games of the September calendar.

Pittsburgh jumped first. Oneil Cruz singled home Reynolds in the first to make it 2-0, and the Pirates looked comfortable early. Then Rafael Devers happened. San Francisco chipped away with two singles in the second to tie it, and Devers finished the job with a 415-foot shot to center that cleared the bases and put the Giants up 5-2. It looked like a statement. It was not. Paul Skenes was getting hit hard — 8 hits and 5 earned runs in 4.2 innings — but Pittsburgh's lineup answered with a third inning that was almost cartoonishly productive. Cruz singled, a walk scored a run, another walk scored another, Davis singled home two more, Horwitz singled home two more after that, and Cruz — again — singled home two more. By the time the dust settled on the third, Pittsburgh led 11-5 and the Giants' early fireworks felt like a distant memory.

San Francisco refused to fold. They scratched back with two runs in the sixth and Brandon Lowe's 411-foot homer to right center pushed Pittsburgh's lead to 12-7 in the seventh. But the eighth inning belonged to the Giants. A walk, a Cavanaugh double to right that scored two, and then a single to left that plated two more — suddenly it was 12-12, and what looked like a comfortable Pittsburgh win had turned into a genuine crisis. Turner Hill went 4-for-5 and scored twice. Drew Cavanaugh went 3-for-5 with 2 RBI. The Giants had the momentum, the crowd's attention, and everything but the lead.

Then came the ninth. With Pittsburgh's win probability sitting at 63%, Lowe reached base and eventually scored when Basabe — the same third baseman who had driven in runs earlier — uncorked a throwing error on a Flores Jr. grounder. Lowe scored. The win probability swung from 63% to 100% in a single play. That's the story of this game: not the slugfest, not the comeback, but the error that ended it. Cruz finished 4-for-6 with 4 RBI. Lowe went 4-for-6 with a homer and scored three times. Pittsburgh's offense was relentless. But the final out of this one will be remembered as a gift, not a conquest.