SAN FRANCISCO — As Austin Slater’s line drive bounced around the left-field corner, every pair of eyes inside Oracle Park fixated on Darin Ruf, the big guy lugging his way around second base, then around third, and finally home, scoring the walk-off run in the Giants’ 6-5, 10-inning Opening Day win.
Everyone else in the ballpark was looking at Ruf, but Ruf was zeroed in on the right arm of third-base coach Mark Hallberg, rotating like a windmill on hyper speed. As Ruf slid across home plate, there was Hallberg, who had made it almost the entire 90 feet to home plate with the runner he sent. His twirling arms changed direction to motion “safe!” in unison with home plate umpire Alfonso Marquez.
AUSTIN SLATER WALKS IT OFF 😱 pic.twitter.com/ZhLGOljAoJ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 9, 2022
It was a heck of an ending to Hallberg’s major league debut as the Giants’ third base coach, earning an unprompted postgame shout-out from manager Gabe Kapler.
“Obviously,” Kapler said, “our third-base coach made an excellent, excellent decision that helped us win the baseball game.”
Hallberg, 36, was a member of Kapler’s staff the past two seasons but worked his first Opening Day in the third-base coaching box in Friday’s win over the Marlins. No pressure, taking over for the longest-tenured member of the Giants coaching staff, Ron Wotus, who started as Dusty Baker’s third base coach in 1998 and spent the past five years giving signals at third before stepping back into a special assistant role this season.
Ruf trusted the intuition of the first-year third base coach. The only thing going through his mind: “Don’t fall,” he said.
Ruf prides himself on the finer aspects of base-running, such as making tight turns to make up a step or two, but the reality is his sprint speed last season, 25.9 feet per second, ranked in the 27th percentile league-wide.
To score from first, everything had to go right, packing all the more pressure on Hallberg’s job at third base as Ruf made the turn at second base.
“There was no extra gear,” Ruf said. “The left fielder was well off the line, so I knew when Slater hit the ball, he would have a ways to go to get it.”
RUF WAS HUSTLING 😅 pic.twitter.com/iFYyqbOqKZ
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 9, 2022
The split-second decision making in game-deciding situations such as these is unique in baseball to third-base coaches. Prepare and practice as much as you want, nothing can replicate doing it in a game, much less in front of 40,000 screaming fans whose outlook on the season rides on this one play.
Hallberg was already 1-for-1, sending home Joey Bart all the way from first, too, on Brandon Belt’s bunt and the Marlins’ ensuing throwing error in the second inning.
“I was already congratulating him on sending Bart early in the game as his first close call he had to make,” Ruf said. “I think that really calmed him down.”
Hallberg, who was born in Saudi Arabia and spent six years teaching there and in Dubai, prepares like a guy who holds an MBA, because he does. If the season had started two weeks ago, Kapler said, Hallberg would have been ready.
As Ruf chugged and eyed his third-base coach, he remembered the preparation he’d witnessed from Hallberg since he joined Kapler’s staff as a major-league assistant in 2020, Ruf’s first year in San Francisco, too.
“I spent a lot of time with him in the cages over the last couple years,” Ruf said. “Super smart. Knows the game, knows the situations, does a lot of preparation, knowing outfielders’ arms, things like that.”
Added Kapler: “Mark is a relentless preparer, so if there’s anybody who’s capable of stepping in and not missing a beat, it’s Mark Hallberg. … He understands the strengths of opposing outfielders. He knows the speed on the bases. Mark is not leaving any stone unturned.”
So, like Ruf, Hallberg noticed Marlins left fielder Jorge Soler was playing well off the line in left field. The ball bounced and rolled around the warning track as Ruf chugged toward third. As he rounded the bag, it was a race between Ruf and the throw from cutoff man Miguel Rojas. Ruf slid into home and was just as soon being mobbed by his teammates.
“I wouldn’t expect me to get home on that,” Belt said. “He was getting on his horse a little bit. He was moving. That’s one for us big men out there.”
Kapler, who has preached smart, aggressive baserunning since his arrival in 2020, said he supported the call from Hallberg, even if it had resulted in the third out of the 10th, instead of the winning run.
“It’s so hard in this league to get two-out hits against nasty relievers that any time you get an extra base hit with a runner on first base, you have to be thinking score and you have to make them throw you out at the plate,” Kapler said. “Even with Darin Ruf running, I thought it was an excellent call. The entire dugout was behind it immediately. Either way, even if he gets thrown out, I would’ve come back in here and said the same thing.”
