Giants keep streak dating back to 1883 alive
QUEENS, N.Y. >> Since the Giants moved into their waterfront ballpark in 2000, 16 of MLB’S 30 franchises have had their teams endure five consecutive losing seasons.
The Pirates opened the 2000s with 13 straight losing seasons, the Padres had nine sub-.500 seasons in a row to kick off the 2010s and the Cubs and Astros each put their fan bases through half-decade rebuilds before winning World Series titles.
By launching four home runs in the first four innings on Tuesday at Citi Field, the Giants (81-44) won in an 8-0 blowout over the Mets and officially brought an end to a stretch of four consecutive losing seasons that began with an embarrassing 98-loss campaign in 2017.
Longtime Giants fans have been through plenty of ups and downs and have seen their fair share of bad baseball, but by winning their 81st game of the season in New York, Gabe Kapler’s club kept one of the franchise’s most impressive streaks intact.
Dating back to their inception as the New York Gothams in 1883, the Giants’ franchise has never had teams post a losing record five years in a row.
A 2021 Giants team that was projected by many to win anywhere from 70-to80 games improved to a season-high 37 games over .500 with another well-rounded showing that featured contributions from players up and down the lineup. The win didn’t come without concern, however, as catcher Buster Posey left the game in the fifth inning with left knee soreness while shortstop Brandon Crawford exited in the seventh inning due to lower back tightness.
Kapler said both players would be listed as “day-today” and it’s possible Crawford could be in the lineup on Wednesday.
Brandon Belt, Lamonte Wade Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski all homered while rookie left-hander Sammy Long turned in the best performance of his young career as he tossed 5 1/3 scoreless innings while giving up just three hits and a walk.
Belt, who said postgame that his grandmother, Margaret, died on Tuesday, put the Giants on the board with a towering 431-foot home run to center field in the first inning off Mets right-hander Tylor Megill before he set a new career-high with his 19th home run of the year in the fourth inning.
“I knew he wanted to stay in the lineup, but it was more what he needed,” Kapler said. “Whatever he needed, we would have done. If he needed the day off, we would have put someone in there to replace him. Whenever you have a death in the family, you prioritize the emotional health and well-being of our players over that night’s game.”
After needing 556 plate appearances to homer 18 times in 2015 and 457 plate appearances to match that total in 2017, Belt hit his 19th home run of the season in his 259th plate appearance of the season. Following Tuesday’s performance, Belt dedicated the
rest of the 2021 season to his grandmother.
“I was just glad I could come out here and do that for her and I just wanted to dedicate the rest of the season to her as well,” Belt said. “She was a huge supporter of mine, so this really does mean a lot.”
Belt’s fourth inning home run followed a two-run blast from Wade, who squared up an 0-2 fastball from Megill for his 17th home run of the season. Entering this year, Wade only had two career homers in 113 plate appearances with the Minnesota Twins, but a Giants front office that identified him as
a player who could unlock more power with a few mechanical adjustments appears quite prescient for trading reliever Shaun Anderson to acquire Wade during the offseason.
The other home run, a mammoth 451-foot blast to right center field, marked the 20th of the season for Yastrzemski, who now leads the Giants in homers despite struggling to produce at the same rate he did in his first two major league seasons.
The Giants’ 12th fourhome run game of the season gave Long the cushion he needed to pitch with confidence
and fill up the strike zone against the Mets. The southpaw set a career-high with 92 pitches and flashed a nearly unhittable curveball that accounted for 10 of the 19 called strikes he recorded against the Mets.
“I think one of my main goals tonight was to be as efficient as I could,” Long said. “Early on in the game I felt like I was getting deep into counts, but as the game went on I felt better and better and my confidence grew.”
Long even chipped in at the plate on Tuesday, recording an opposite-field single against Megill for his
first career hit.
“That’s what I did in high school, just go the other way with stuff,” Long said. “I saw a pitch, I don’t think it was in the strike zone, but it was a pitch I felt like I could get a barrel on.”
The combination of a power surge and a strong outing from Long allowed Kapler to give his top relievers an additional day of rest following a stressful weekend series in Oakland. Tuesday marked day one of a 16game stretch the Giants will play without any off days, so keeping players fresh will be a top priority for the club over the next few weeks.