Six straight:
Samardzija extends his stretch of control
The Giants win 5-3 in Pittsburgh, completing a three-game sweep and extending their winning streak to six games.
PITTSBURGH — A strong sign that the Giants are winning is Brandon Belt making goofy proclamations that have his teammates laughing, shaking their heads or both.
In the eighth inning of Sunday’s 5-3 victory against the Pirates, Belt made his best defensive play of the year, running deep into right field to catch a Josh Bell blooper with his back to the plate, wide-receiver style.
“If I had gone to Notre Dame,” Belt said on the postgame show, “nobody would have ever heard of Jeff Samardzija.”
Samardzija, an All-America receiver in college, had a good day on the mound while the fantasizing first baseman had a terrific all-around game, as the Giants completed their second consecutive series sweep to run
their win streak to a seasonhigh six games. The Giants had a perfect week facing the Rockies and Pirates.
How is that possible, as badly as they played in creating a 27-51 record? Anyone who professes to know is probably selling snake oil.
“I think we have confidence and expect to win now,” Belt said. “Before, I don’t think we had that. It might have been the opposite. I’m not sure what triggered it, but this is how we feel we should have been playing the whole time.”
The Giants have not lost since Ken Rosenthal of Fox Sports posted an article last Monday questioning team chemistry. Manager Bruce Bochy defused the controversy by declaring the story was “pole vaulting over mouse turds.”
One managerial mood-lightener cannot explain why the Giants suddenly became a clutch-hit machine, started making fewer two-strike mistakes on the mound and began playing the taut defense they need to be able to win.
The Giants fell behind 2-0 Sunday on Jordy Mercer’s tworun homer in the fourth against Samardzija, who went six innings for the win.
The Giants had just two hits through six innings against Trevor Williams. The Pirates’ right-hander walked Hunter Pence to start the seventh. Buster Posey then doubled to set up RBI singles by Belt and Brandon Crawford off lefty Tony Watson to tie the game. Kelby Tomlinson’s pinch sacrifice fly provided a 3-2 lead later in the inning, and Belt added some insurance with a two-run homer in the eighth, his 16th of the season.
Cory Gearrin, Steven Okert and Sam Dyson finished on the mound, Dyson earning his second save in less than 24 hours.
The Giants came from behind in all three games to complete their first sweep at PNC Park in 12 years. They scored 15 of their 20 runs from the sixth inning on, a sign they are making adjustments at the plate that had been missing.
Samardzija continued his great run of control with another zero-walk game. Over his past dozen starts, he has allowed three walks and struck out 87.
He said he was heartened by guys smiling on the field and in the clubhouse.
On the turnaround, Samardzija shrugged and said, “I chalk that up to baseball. It’s a wild sport. So much of it is about momentum, confidence and what’s going on in your own head, let alone all nine heads out there — hopefully not too much. Baseball has a personality of its own. You just have to go out and enjoy it.”
The Giants are off Monday and finish the first half with three games at Detroit and three at home against the Marlins, two sub-.500 teams. If they continue to play the brand of baseball that has marked their win streak, they have a shot to go into the All-Star break with a much less homely record.
“We shouldn’t be happy where we’re at,” Bochy said. “You’re talking about pride more now, but we shouldn’t be satisfied with this little run. We have a lot of baseball left.”