San Francisco Giants rookie Spencer Bivens got his first ever major league start on Sunday for Game 3 of 3 against the Dodgers at Oracle Park. It very quickly became clear that he couldn't possibly do worse than LA starter James Paxton, who gave up four runs by the bottom of third and wasn't destined to stop there.
Bivens kept the Dodgers scoreless until the fifth, when Chris Taylor continued his redemption arc by hitting a solo homer to ensure the Dodgers wouldn't be shut out. Kiké Hernández singled, only LA's fourth hit of the game, Austin Barnes grounded out, and then the lineup reset, making Shohei Ohtani likely to be the last batter Bivens would face that evening.
He'd already K'ed Ohtani once at the top of the third and let out a roar as he walked back to the dugout. Somewhat surprisingly, he did it again, striking out Ohtani once more to end the first half of the fifth. Completely unsurprisingly, Bivens may have been even more excited to accomplish the task a second time.
Bivens put his whole body into that scream and corresponding fist pump before strutting back to the dugout. The OC Register's Dodgers beat reporter Bill Plunkett tweeted after the moment, "Spencer Bivens just won the World Series ... or appeared to based on his celebration/reaction after striking out Shohei Ohtani for the second time today."
Giants rookie Spencer Bivens called out for celebrating both strikeouts on Shohei Ohtani
It's almost impossible for Dodgers fans to be happy for the Giants or any of their players, but Bivens is a 30-year-old rookie who's finally getting his shot in the majors and is looking pretty good while doing it. Other than the home run to Taylor, he couldn't have really asked for a better first start, and the Giants had already given him nine runs of support by the end of the fourth.
Plunkett's take on the celebrations seems to be a continuation of a bold claim Mookie Betts made at the start of the season, stating, "Every game is gonna be the other team's World Series."
But Bivens also struck out one of the greatest players in the game's history, and he did it twice, and those two strikeouts were two of only three on the entire evening for him. Maybe we'll let the guy have his moment in the sun. The Giants definitely aren't making it into the postseason, so they can take their wins where they can get them.