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Bailey ‘singlehandedly' wins game for Giants with heroic effort

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The Patrick Bailey Show debuted in The Big Apple on Friday, and by the end of the game, New York Mets fans in attendance had wished they were literally anywhere else but Citi Field.

With the Giants trailing by two runs in the eighth inning, the rookie catcher blasted a three-run go-ahead home run that helped secure San Francisco's 14th come-from-behind win -- a 5-4 victory -- when trailing by multiple runs this season.

Bailey has hit the ground running ever since his debut with the Giants in mid-May and has shown no signs of slowing down. The rookie catcher told NBC Sports Bay Area's Laura Britt, Carlos Ramirez and Ron Wotus on "Giants Postgame Live" that his ability to develop a consistent routine has played a big role in maintaining his composure at and behind the plate.

After his heroic blast in the eighth, Bailey threw out what would have been the game-tying run in the bottom of the ninth, nabbing the speedy Starling Marte at second with one out in the inning.

Despite throwing a perfect strike to beat one of the best base stealers in the game, Bailey credited pitcher Camilo Doval and shortstop Casey Schmitt for the out.

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"Obviously he came in, I was expecting him to run at some point," Bailey told "Giants Postgame Live." "[Doval] did a great job on that pitching, having a quicker move to the plate. Fortunate it was a fastball up in the zone so it was a good pitch to throw on. I was able to put a good throw on it and [Casey Schmitt] made a nice tag."

Prior to his big game Friday, Bailey had pretty much cemented himself as the Giants' catcher of the future and even started to receive some All-Star buzz from the national media. In a short interview on ESPN's SportsCenter earlier in the day, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was asked about his rookie catcher and the comparisons he has received to franchise legend Buster Posey.

In the interview, Kapler downplayed the comparison, expressing caution in discussing, at the time, 31 games from Bailey to the Hall-of-Fame career of Posey. However, after the game, the 32nd of Bailey's career, Kapler had a different tone in heaping superstar-caliber praise onto the 24-year-old.

"Prior to this game I did this little SportsCenter hit and in the SportsCenter hit I was hearing the comparisons of Pat to Buster [Posey] and obviously getting really high on the work that he's done," Kapler told reporters after the game. "That was part of the questioning: 'Is this how we should start thinking about Pat Bailey?' My thought at the time was 'Hey, let's pump the brakes a little bit.' It's a month into his career, let's let things unfold ...

"But that was as good as it gets. That was like superstar-caliber stuff. Big three-run home run off one of the better relievers in baseball. An absolutely perfect throw with an excellent exchange."

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Bailey's herculean effort in the Giants' win over the Mets perhaps was the loudest message he has sent yet. In front of a crowd of over 30,000 disappointed Mets fans -- and media -- perhaps Giants starting pitcher Alex Cobb described his rookie catcher's performance best.

"Patty Bailes singlehandedly put us on his back and won the game for us."

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