Giants at .500 after blowout against A’s

OAKLAND » In the midst of a race for a postseason berth, the San Francisco Giants are relying on several players who were once relegated to part-time roles to step up and a lead a late-season surge.

Few players on the roster have more experience in navigating the challenges of a playoff race than shortstop Brandon Crawford, but he’s also among the group of players taking on a bigger role than the Giants envisioned entering the season.

After the Giants dropped below .500 with back-to-back shutout losses to open their series in Oakland, Crawford broke open Sunday’s game with a fifth-inning grand slam that helped the club capture a 14-2 victory.

Crawford opened the summer as a platoon player at shortstop, but in the final week of the season, the club is counting on him to play on an everyday basis and serve as an offensive catalyst.

Since finishing 12th in National League MVP voting in 2016, Crawford’s offensive numbers had dropped off in a considerable way and in each of the past two seasons, defensive metrics ranked the three-time Gold Glove Award winner as a below average

fielder. After finding himself on the bench against most left-handed starters early in the year, Crawford has the best OPS of his career and has recaptured some of the magic he found during an early-season hot stretch in 2018 that helped him secure his second All-Star nod.

Crawford had plenty of help on Sunday in Oakland as catcher Chadwick Tromp and left fielder Darin Ruf each hit two-run home runs against A’s left-hander Mike Minor while starter Tyler Anderson gave the Giants 5 2/3 innings against a tough Oakland lineup.

With Mike Yastrzemski dealing with a calf injury, Austin Slater unable to play the outfield due to an elbow issue and Alex Dickerson on the paternity list, the Giants are counting on Ruf to face both right and left-handed pitchers and the outfielder shined on Sunday. Aside from his two-run homer, he added a two-run single in the eighth inning that gave him four RBIs in a game for the first time since September 1, 2015 when he was playing for the Philadelphia Phillies.

Tromp isn’t likely to start the majority of games down the stretch, but Giants manager Gabe Kapler said pregame he wanted rookie catcher Joey Bart to have a “mental refresh” following recent struggles at the plate. Bart wasn’t included in the starting lineup Sunday and will likely sit on the bench for Monday’s series opener against the Colorado

Rockies and the Giants.

Tromp grades out as one of the top defensive catchers in baseball and has been an elite pitch framer this year, but it was Tromp’s bat that led to a key breakthrough. In his first plate appearance against Minor, Tromp golfed a pitch below the strike zone over the left center field wall for a two-run home run to snap the Giants’ scoreless streak at 22 innings.

Tromp finished with his first career three-hit game and a season-high three RBIs after picking up an infield single to drive in Crawford in the eighth.

Ruf, who was signed as a minor league free agent in the offseason to aid the lineup against lefthanded pitchers, hit his fifth home run of the season in the fourth inning as he crushed a curveball from Minor over the center field wall. An early 4-0 edge allowed the Giants to extend Anderson, who wasn’t slated to start Sunday’s game until Saturday afternoon.