Jeff Samardzija’s pitching and homers by Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Kevin Pillar lift S.F.
PHILADELPHIA — Bruce Bochy’s 3,978th pregame as a majorleague manager might go down as one of his oddest.
The front office just traded threeeighths of his bullpen. Ninety minutes before the first pitch, he could not announce the three relievers who would replace the departed nor say who was going to perform which roles.
He then had to scratch outfielder Alex Dickerson with more rightside issues. By night’s end, the sparkplug outfielder had undergone an MRI exam, with results to be determined.
At least the night ended well for Giants and Bochy, who celebrated his 1,981st career win. A 51 victory against the Phillies was fueled with homers by Buster Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Kevin Pillar in a fiverun sixth inning of a game that had been scoreless. Mike Yastrzemski set the table with a leadoff walk.
The Giants ended the month 196, their best July since moving to San Francisco in 1958. Only the 1913 team, at 256, had a better one. They also snapped a sevengame losing streak at Citizens Bank Park.
“It’s been a busy day,” Bochy said. “The guys had to say a lot of ‘byes,’ but they kept their focus and we won a game in a place where we haven’t won in a long time.”
Jeff Samardzija was huge on a night of comings and goings in the bullpen. He gave the team six shutout innings on three hits. No Philadelphia batter reached second base on his watch.
With Mark Melancon, Sam Dyson and Drew Pomeranz gone, Bochy turned to Tony Watson to pitch the seventh, Reyes Moronta the eighth and Will Smith the ninth. Bochy said he could flop Moronta and Smith, or use Moronta even earlier in the game if needed to get strikeouts.
The Phillies got their run off Watson after he walked Bryce Harper to start the seventh.
As the Giants shoot for yet another series win Thursday, they face uncertainty over Dickerson, who has not been able to shake the side pain that he termed a compensation injury related to the back spasms that got him in Milwaukee. The injured list is a possibility.
At the same time, Bochy said Evan Longoria is “knocking on the door” of returning. The manager plans to chat with his third baseman Thursday about a plan, be it rehab games in the minors or jumping straight into bigleague games.
The Giants did not need their new arms, who arrived in time for the first pitch.
They recalled Rodriguez, Andrew Suarez and Jandel Gustave, a onetime Houston farmhand who last pitched in the bigs in 2017 and has struggled at Sacramento, but owns a high90s fastball.
It’s not clear how many will stay. The Giants soon could bring up more traditional short relievers Melvin Adon and Sam Selman. Selman, who has not pitched in the majors, has struck out a higher percentage (43) of his hitters than any other TripleA pitcher this year.