A big day at the plate — bigger one in the stands

When the Giants played in Washington last month, they did next to nothing offensively but managed to split the fourgame series.

This time around, San Francisco’s bats are as warm as the weather. Taking advantage of a leaky Nationals defense, they racked up eight runs against Jon Lester in the first three innings, and Brandon Crawford added his 18th homer of the season in the sixth to power a 104 victory.

“So far in this series, we’ve fought for every pitch, I think that’s a huge factor,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “And we’re not letting our foot off the gas at any point; that’s also important.”

That’s 15 runs for the Giants in the first two games; they totaled three at Washington. With the romp Saturday at Oracle Park, San Francisco ran its bigleague best record to 5632 and moved 21⁄2 games ahead of the Dodgers in the NL West, with Los Angeles playing later in the evening.

“It’s awesome, it’s so much fun to be a part of this team,”

Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani said. “It’s such a great, great group of guys. Everyone’s just selfless and everyone pulls for each other . ... I’m just super proud of the way that we have played up into this point.”

An error by former Giant Gerardo Parra in left loaded the bases in the first, and Donovan Solano singled in a run, Crawford sent in another with a sacrifice fly and after an infield hit by Joey Bart, Thairo Estrada’s tapper scored one more, all unearned runs.

“You could say Thairo was fortunate early in the game, to say the least,” Kapler said. “I think you’d also say that we were especially fortunate in the first couple of innings.”

In the third, Darin Ruf doubled, Solano reached on an error by third baseman Starlin Castro and Crawford banged an RBI single, as did Bart, and Estrada provided yet another infield hit to send in a run. After a sacrifice bunt by DeSclafani, Austin Slater singled in a run and Mike Yastrzemski added a sacrifice fly. Only three of the eight runs Lester allowed were earned.

Estrada had four hits, including yet another RBI single in the eighth, and Crawford had three hits and drove in three. Washington scored three runs in the seventh off Tyler Beede, making his first appearance since Tommy John surgery, and added another in the ninth off John Brebbia.

The Giants’ defense has presented a direct contrast with Washington’s. Saturday, it was Yastrzemski who pulled off the unlikely play, with a tumbling grab in foul ground on a dying popup by Castro — an allout effort in, at that point, an eightrun game.

DeSclafani was terrific again, even if he was overshadowed by the offensive onslaught. He worked six scoreless innings and allowed three hits and a walk with six strikeouts in improving to 103. Since giving up 10 runs against the Dodgers on May 23, DeSclafani has allowed only 10 earned runs in 511⁄3 innings — a 1.75 ERA.

The biggest hero of the day was not on the field: Dr. Willie Ross, a pediatrician who is the father of Nationals pitcher Joe Ross and former A’s starter Tyson Ross, saved a woman’s life in the middle innings. The woman, whom Ross said he’d learned had just retired after 53 years working as a nurse, was choking, and Ross used the Heimlich maneuver to restore her breathing.

“I saw her having some difficulties and I saw her companion helping her out,” said Ross, who was sitting two sections away. “Then I just started watching, making sure that she was OK, and I went over just to chat, and she couldn’t talk, she needed help. She had three pieces of hot dog lodged in her airway . ... The third piece was as big as my first knuckle.”

The two chatted briefly after and, Ross said, “She was thankful, she was grateful, but she was a little embarrassed. She’s a nurse so she’s used to giving aid, not receiving it.”

It’s not the first time Dr. Ross has saved a life at a baseball field; when Tyson Ross was with the A’s, Willie Ross got a call that an A’s staffer’s relative had had a stroke at an amateur field in San Leandro, and he arranged for her emergency treatment “and she did very well,” he said.