NEW YORK -- It took a trade and two injuries for Conor Gillaspie to get into the lineup for Wednesday night's NL Wild Card Game, a game he helped win with a ninth-inning three-run home run against Mets closer Jeurys Familia (SF 3, NY 0). It was only the second homer Familia allowed in 2016.

Here's the video of Gillaspie's game-winning blast:

"Absolutely incredible, is the best I can do," said Gillapsie following the game, describing the home run. "As a kid, as a player at this level, you look forward to just getting a hit in the postseason just to help your team. I'm a lucky guy."

If the Giants had their way, Gillapsie wouldn't have been in Wednesday's lineup. It would have been Eduardo Nunez, a trade deadline pickup and the team's regular at the hot corner. Nunez couldn't go because he's been nursing a hamstring injury.

Nunez took over as San Francisco's starting third baseman only after Matt Duffy, last year's NL Rookie of the Year runner-up, was traded to the Rays in the Matt Moore deal at the deadline. Duffy became expendable because of an Achilles injury.

The Giants replaced Duffy with Nunez, and when Nunez went down, they traded for Gordon Beckham in the final week of the season to add third base depth. They didn't even want Gillaspie in the lineup full-time at the end of the regular season. That's how far down the depth chart he was.

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Conor Gillaspie wasn't Plan A or even Plan B at third base for the Giants in 2016. USATSI

"I'm happy to play everyday that they put me in there," said Gillapsie. "I don't question the lineup, I don't question Boch. He's won a lot of games for a reason. For whatever reason, he has a knack for finding the right guy in the right situation. It's a special team and guys never quit."

It took the Duffy and Nunez injuries, and Beckham being ineligible for the postseason because he was traded after Aug. 31, to get Gillaspie into the lineup Wednesday night. The stars aligned and he hit the biggest home run of his career and the biggest of the Giants' season to date.

If this story feels familiar, it should. The Giants have done this sort of thing before. They have a knack for finding the right player at the right time. They've done it during each of their recent title runs:

  • 2010: Cody Ross hit five home runs in 15 postseason games -- including two off super ace Roy Halladay in Game 1 of the NLCS -- after being claimed on waivers in August.
  • 2012: Marco Scutaro hits .328 with a .377 on-base percentage in 16 postseason games after being acquired at the deadline. He drove in the World Series winning run in Game 4.
  • 2014: Travis Ishikawa, in his second stint with the Giants, hit the pennant-clinching walk-off home run in Game 5 of the NLCS.

Gillapsie is in his second stint with the Giants like Ishikawa. He was originally drafted by San Francisco in 2008 before being traded to the White Sox in 2013. After a few years in Chicago, he landed with the Angels, and eventually made his way back to the Giants.

"At the end of last year, I kind of took baseball for granted," added Gillaspie. "This time last year I was home. I did some soul-searching and realized I had made baseball the No. 1 thing in my life, and it's not anymore. I'm proud of that."

The Giants have a habit of doing this, don't they? They're the closest thing we've seen to a dynasty since the late 1990s Yankees thanks in part to their ability to find these high-impact role players. This isn't a fluke anymore. This is a trend.

"Leading up to this point, I played some during the year. I wasn't an everyday guy. That wasn't my role," said Gillaspie. "I'm just as happy to do that. To be able to come in a situation like this and just barrel the ball -- yeah it went out of the park -- to be able to just come in and have your team behind you, have your staff believe in you when somebody goes down. I can't thank this organization enough."

Every single team needs unexpected contributions -- a big hit, some big outs, whatever -- from somewhere to win a World Series championship. We see it every year. The Giants got another one of those unexpected contributions Wednesday night, when a player who wouldn't even have been in the starting lineup without Nunez's injury got their biggest hit of 2016.

"I've said this: if you create enough chances, hopefully you'll come through, and here Conor comes through for us," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy following the Wild Card Game win. "Sometimes you talk about the heart of the order, but usually it's someone else that gets the big hit and that's what happened tonight."