GIANTS HOPE TO KEEP WINNING
DENVER — The San Francisco Giants don’t have any players with 15 home runs, any starting pitchers with a sub-3.50 ERA or any everyday starters who made the All-Star team.
Despite all of their perceived shortcomings, the Giants are still in the playoff hunt.
With 51 games remaining, manager Bruce Bochy’s club sits 2.5 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies and Washington Nationals for the second National League Wild Card berth.
After posting a 22-34 record through the first two months of the year, the Giants have found a winning blueprint that’s enabled them to enter a playoff race they once had no business joining.
Their blueprint for success isn’t necessarily common, but Bochy believes it’s sustainable.
“We’re not going to have one guy carrying the load here,” Bochy said. “It’s going to have to be everybody.”
When second baseman Scooter Gennett arrived in the clubhouse following his trade from the Reds this week, a teammate explained how the Giants were able to find a rhythm in July.
He told Gennett that the offense doesn’t hit a ton of home runs, the regulars don’t steal a lot of bases, but the team consistently gets the timely hits it needs to win. After hitting his first home run this season in Saturday’s 6-5 win over the Colorado Rockies, Gennett liked what he saw.
“It’s not about individual performance, it’s about winning ballgames,” Gennett said. “It’s nice to be a part of that and that’s what baseball is all about.”
The narrow victory over the Rockies showcased the formula the Giants have used to claw their way back into contention for a Wild Card berth.
No individual served as the hero, but the club won because enough players made enough contributions.
Their starting pitcher struggled and no player finished with more than two RBIs, but eight of the nine starters in Saturday’s lineup reached base including pitcher Madison Bumgarner. Seven finished with at least one hit and the only member of the lineup who didn’t find his way on base came up with a catch
that robbed Ian Desmond of a two-run home run.
Steven Duggar may not have given the team much at the plate, but his leaping snag in front of the wall saved the day.
“That was pretty incredible right there,” Bumgarner said. “He got up there.”
Closer Will Smith pitched with traffic on the base paths in the ninth inning of a one-run game, but Smith struck out Rockies infielders Trevor Story and Daniel Murphy with perfectly placed sliders that dove out of the zone at the last second.
Smith received credit for his 27th save, but offered praise for middle relievers Trevor Gott and Sam Coonrod who threw scoreless innings while the Giants were trailing before Tony Watson preserved a one-run lead in the eighth.
Ahead of Sunday’s series finale, Bochy pointed out the impressive contributions of right fielder Austin Slater, who made a difficult catch after jumping at the right field wall and also scored from first on Buster Posey’s go-ahead double in the top of the eighth.
“You look at Slater’s game on both sides of the ball,” Bochy said. “A nice catch in right field, a couple of big hits, scoring from first. He runs well and here he was in the eight-hole and he made a major contribution.”
Despite losing Friday’s game at Coors Field 5-4, the Giants are a major-league best 27-11 in one-run games this season. They subtracted three key relievers from their 25-man roster at Wednesday’s trade deadline, but have confidence that their organizational depth won’t lead to a significant decline in their bullpen’s effectiveness.