Giants’ hot streak extends into July
Surging club outslugs first-place D’backs to cap off road sweep
PHOENIX >> As the calendar flipped to July, the Giants waved goodbye to their most successful month in two years, an 18-win June that featured a return to the formula that’s become a hallmark of Bruce Bochy’s most successful clubs.
They won with pitching and defense and they kept up with a blistering pace set by the D’backs and Dodgers.
The Giants didn’t use that recipe Sunday, but good teams must win in more ways than one and San Francisco proved it could with a 9-6 victory that capped a three-game sweep of first-place Arizona.
“That has to happen for you to have a good year,” Bochy said. “You’re going to have starters occasionally not quite on top of their game and you’ve got to slug it with the other club and put some runs on the board and they did that today.”
With their first sweep at Chase Field since September 9-11, 2016, the Giants pulled within 2.5 games of
the D’backs in the National League West and improved to a season-best five games above .500.
Though the Giants’ .409 road winning percentage entering Sunday’s contest was the second-worst in the league, they’ve now won eight of their last 14 away from AT&T Park while ripping off 10 total wins in their last 12 games.
“We feel like we’re in a good
rhythm,” outfielder Hunter Pence said. “It’s part of baseball and we feel like we’re working on all cylinders and that’s momentum. So we feel it right now.”
The club received an early scare after third baseman Pablo Sandoval was forced to exit Sunday’s matinee following a hit by pitch in the top of the third. Sandoval was diagnosed with a right elbow contusion
and X-rays were negative, but Bochy indicated before Sunday’s contest he planned to rest the infielder in today’s series opener in Colorado anyway.
Though Sandoval left early, D’backs starter Zack Godley didn’t last much longer as the Giants grinded him down with a disciplined approach throughout a four-inning outing that helped them dig into the Arizona bullpen.
Godley opened the second inning with a location mistake on a fastball that ran inside and hit catcher Nick Hundley in the back. Though Hundley was the only Giant to score in that frame, San Francisco added on with two more in the third and a run in the fourth before finally breaking the game open with a four-run fifth inning.
After Godley walked the
first two hitters in the fifth, second baseman Joe Panik brought in Alen Hanson with a single to knock the D’backs starter out of the game. Reliever Silvino Bracho was greeted with a loud two-run double into the corner from Pence, who picked up his first RBIs as a pinch hitter this season.
“I feel like if you stay locked into being prepared and following through with the process, you’re going to have a chance to have good at-bats and get hits from time to time in big situations,” Pence said.
After Brandon Belt added on with his second hit of the afternoon, the Giants held a commanding 8-3 lead and needed 15 more outs from their bullpen to finish off the D’backs. Belt was one of three Giants who reached base four times, joining Hundley and left fielder Austin Slater.
A well-rested crew of relievers proved pivotal for San Francisco, as the efforts of rookie starters Andrew Suárez and Dereck Rodríguez in the first two games of the series eased the burden on the Giants’ bullpen.
Though starter Derek Holland lasted just 3 2/3 innings in his second-shortest outing of the season, the Giants escaped a bases-loaded jam in the fourth after Belt and reliever Cory Gearrin combined for an excellent defensive play on a Christian Walker groundball.
Even though rotation spots are at a premium for the Giants with the impending returns of Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija, Holland will likely remain a fixture as a starter after playing a leading role in the resurgence of the team’s staff in June.
“To have the month I just had and to go out and do that, it’s upsetting,” Holland said. “So I’m not worried about it. The best part was what the guys did. Those guys picked me up and they got us the ‘W,’ which is very important against these guys right now.”
The offensive outburst highlighted how dangerous the Giants lineup is against right-handed starters, as San Francisco surged throughout the month of June against righties. Their victory Sunday marked their 15th win in their last 18 games against a righthanded pitcher, and it came against a D’backs pitcher who has failed to last past the fourth inning in each of his last two games against the Giants.