Giants go deep four times in home romp over Reds
SAN FRANCISCO >> With one bad week, the Giants went from having the fourth-best record in the National League to dropping out of a playoff spot altogether.
The Giants likely aren't going to be concerned about such things right now. But if they want to try and keep pace with the Los Angeles Dodgers and the San Diego Padres in the National League West, they'll likely have to take care of business against MLB's also-rans.
Saturday, Evan Longoria, Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores all hit home runs and starter Logan Webb lasted six innings to lead the Giants to a 9-2 win over the Cincinnati Reds, the NL's worst team, before a sellout crowd of 40,115 at Oracle Park.
Flores' three-run homer in the sixth inning gave the Giants a 9-1 lead, as he now has a teamleading 40 RBIs this season. Flores had 53 RBIs in 139 games last season, and his career high is 59 in 2015 when he was with the New York Mets.
Darin Ruf and Tommy La Stella also drove in runs as the Giants won for just the second time in the last seven games. They finish the series with the Reds today and next week, face the Detroit Tigers for two games and the Chicago White Sox for three.
San Francisco won seven of eight games and improved to 37-27 with a 7-5 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates on June 18. At the time, they were three games back of the first-place Dodgers and 2½ games behind the Padres.
Since then, the Giants lost the series finale with the Pirates at PNC Park, lost three of four games in Atlanta against the Braves, and dropped the series opener with the Reds on Friday.
San Francisco (39-32) entered Saturday 6 ½ games back of the Dodgers and 5 ½ back of the Padres. The Giants were also two games back of the Braves for the second wild-card spot in the NL.
Webb threw 97 pitches and allowed two hits and struck out six as he improved to 7-2 this season. In the fourth inning, the Reds (24-47) had runners on first and third with one out, but Webb got Albert Almora Jr. to ground into a comebacker, as Webb began a 1-4-3 double play to end the inning.
GIANTS TAKE IT EASY WITH AILING CRAWFORD >> The Giants hope some more rest for Brandon Crawford right now will be beneficial to the shortstop's health in the long run.
One night after being off target with a couple of throws, Crawford was out of the Giants' lineup Saturday as Thairo Estrada started and homered.
In the second inning of Friday's 4-2 loss by the Giants, Crawford backed up onto the
grass to field a ground ball by Kyle Farmer, but his throw pulled first baseman Brandon Belt off the bag. Farmer was given a single on the play and later came around to score the first of two Reds runs that inning.
In the fifth, on a Donovan Solano ground ball, Crawford was charged with an error as his throw home was off target, allowing Nick Senzel to score for a 3-1 Reds lead. Crawford also went 0-for-3 with two strikeouts as the Giants lost for the fifth time in six days.
It was Crawford's first game back since was involved in a home-plate collision on June 21 in the Giants' 12-10 win over the Atlanta Braves.
Crawford exited that game with a left knee contusion after Braves catcher Travis d'Arnaud fell on his leg on a play at the plate, and manager Gabe Kapler said after Friday's loss that the four-time Gold Glove winner still wasn't 100% healthy.
“I'm trying to get him kind of over the hump physically, and help him by not pushing too hard after the slide in Atlanta,” Kapler said Saturday. “Got him back out there yesterday. He felt good enough to go (today), but it's probably good to give him a full blow if we can today.”
“It might be nice to just kind of get him off his feet for a little bit and continue to let that knee get better. Again, trying to figure out ways to care for Craw so he's as good as he can be, and feels confident moving around.”*
The Giants are also off Monday and Thursday. Their homestand continues next week with games against the Detroit Tigers on Tuesday and Wednesday, and a three-game set with the Chicago White Sox from Friday to Sunday. INJURY UPDATE » Kapler said Luis González, placed on the 10-day IL Thursday with a lower back strain, was feeling better Friday and wasn't concerned that the injury would linger. “This is something that he's experienced in the past and it just needs some time to calm down,” Kapler said.
LaMonte Wade Jr. went 1-for-4 with a double and a run scored for Sacramento on Friday. Kapler said the most likely scenario is that the Giants will let Wade get through this weekend before determining the next course of action.