Generally speaking, an announcer jinx is something an announcer in question feels bad about, like mentioning that a basketball player has made his last several free-throw attempts or that a kicker hasn’t missed from this distance all season — right before a miss.
Sometimes, though, an announcer jinx works out perfectly. That scenario happened for Duane Kuiper and the San Francisco Giants during a game against the Colorado Rockies on Saturday night.
The Giants and Rockies were tied 1-1 in the bottom of the seventh inning when San Francisco catcher Patrick Bailey came to the plate with runners on second and third and two outs. And before Colorado pitcher Justin Lawrence made his first offering to Bailey, Kuiper, calling the game for the Giants on NBC Sports Bay Area, made a timely observation.
“The Giants, well, maybe you don’t want to know this — but it has been something that has made some of these games frustrating,” Kuiper said. “They are 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position today.”
It didn’t take long for Bailey to make good on his end of the deal. He drilled the first pitch that he saw from Lawrence into the left-center field gap. Both runners scored and Bailey slid safely into second base for a double.
“The Giants, well, maybe you don’t want to know this. But it has been something that has made some these games frustrating.
“They are 0-for-10 with runners in scoring position today.”
Duane Kuiper knew what he was doing with this announcer jinx. pic.twitter.com/QkVlXqGplE
— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) July 28, 2024
Kuiper, of course, had to amend the stat he had shared moments before.
“How ’bout that?” he said. “They are 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position.”
That ended up being the game-winning hit. The Giants added a run in the eighth inning and defeated the Rockies 4-1 in the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The game-winning hit is credited to Bailey — and rightly so. But for his perfect use of the announcer jinx, we have to give Kuiper an assist.
