SF Giants’ Brandon Crawford steals a run, saves game with gravity-defying catch

LOS ANGELES — With a slim lead on the line, Brandon Crawford defied gravity to hold it.

The Los Angeles Dodgers had a potential game-tying runner at second base in the seventh inning, threatening to erase the San Francisco Giants’ one-run lead. Mookie Betts smoked reliever Jake McGee’s pitch 100 mph, it looked destined for a green patch in left field. A Dodger Stadium crowd of 53,299 used that half-second of hope to get up and cheer.

But Crawford, the 34-year-old shortstop, silenced the crowd with a timed perfectly a vertical leap at least a foot into the air to wrangle it, ending the inning and preserving the Giants’ 1-0 win over the Dodgers on Monday night to give San Francisco a 2-1 NLDS series lead. Third baseman Evan Longoria had a front-row view of Crawford’s heroics, nearly leaping alongside him as he came down with the ball.

“It was the biggest defensive play of the game, without a doubt,” said Longoria, who scored the game’s only run with a solo home run off a dominant Max Scherzer.

McGee whipped around just in time to see Crawford in the air, ball in glove.

“It won us the game there. It’s a turning point in the game if he doesn’t catch it,” McGee said. “Right when it hit leather, kind of a relief in a way.”

Added Giants manager Gabe Kapler: “(Betts) got it pretty good. And I think he also got a great read and perfect timing on that ball. The ball was hit really hard and had good carry to it. Just another exceptional play from Craw and another play that was really meaningful in our season.”

Crawford didn’t have much time to think about the play, the ball coming at him in less than a second. But a few factors came in play. Betts’ ball had a little bit of top spin that allowed him to get it up over his head. The play just required perfect timing and some hop in his leap.

Crawford’s made a number of leaping grabs in his 11 major league seasons at shortstop. Probably a handful in college at UCLA and at Foothill High School. He can get up.

“I think I dunked a couple of times in high school,” Crawford said.

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On an unusually blustery night reminiscent of Candlestick Park, the wind played some part in keeping the ball within the park. It fit the bill for a game dictated by defensive plays. Crawford’s highlight play was one of a handful that helped Giants starter Alex Wood and relievers Tyler Rogers, McGee and Camilo Doval.

With a runner on and two outs in the sixth inning, Crawford absorbed a hard-hit ground ball from Betts off Rogers to end the threat. Donovan Solano — in at second for Tommy La Stella, who left the game with Achilles soreness — made a sliding stop in the left-center gap to rob AJ Pollock of a hit off Rogers in the seventh inning’s first at-bat, mitigating some traffic to come with back-to-back hits from Steven Souza and Will Smith.

The base path traffic and hard hits prompted Kapler to go to left-handed reliever McGee to face right-handed hitters Austin Barnes and Betts, a decision Kapler said he “can’t swear was an easy one.”

But the need for two outs and McGee’s swing-and-miss stuff paired with Betts’ even splits informed the choice, as opposed to right-handed reliever Dominic Leone. Barnes struck out swinging. Betts nearly caused trouble.

“Betts put a really nice swing on that ball,” Kapler said. “Craw made a really great play and that’s what happens when two teams kind of go at it, you need some great plays.”