Kris Bryant homers for Giants in front of new home crowd.
SAN FRANCISCO >> Already owners of the best record in baseball, the Giants’ acquisition of Kris Bryant would have almost seemed superfluous if not for the outrageous competition in their own division.
Bryant received huge cheers and gave the Giants a boost in his debut, but it was the usual cast of characters who made the difference in a 5-3 win over the Astros to clinch a series win. Afterward, Bryant said his first day with the Giants was “unbelievable” and that he was left “blown away” by the reception — from the clubhouse and the stands.
“I thought he fit our lineup really well,” manager Gabe Kapler said following Bryant’s debut, in which he went 1 for 4 at the plate. “You can tell he’s going to grind pitchers.”
With a solo home run to left field in the third inning, Bryant started a three-run rally that gave the Giants a lead they never relinquished. In his first at-bat, Bryant received a standing ovation as he stepped to the plate. He worked a full count and saw eight pitches but eventually struck out with a runner on second base.
The rest of the runs came via the usual culprits: Mike Yastrzemski and Buster Posey each scored from second base on consecutive singles by Brandon Crawford and Darin Ruf, to round out the third-inning rally and open a 3-2 lead. Ruf made it 5-2 a couple innings later with a homer of his own -- No. 13 this season — that scored Crawford, who singled a batter earlier.
Ruf finished a triple shy of the cycle. Maybe that sounds farfetched for a 6-foot-2, 232-pound left fielder, but he also stole second base in the third inning (his second steal of the season, a new career high).
“It doesn’t always take the big-name people for a team to be successful,” Bryant said. “To watch Logan (Webb) do his thing on the mound and Darin having a great game, that’s what makes teams really good. … Great atbats one through nine, that’s what makes this team great.”
As for Bryant, after his former Cubs teammates Anthony Rizzo and Javier Baez also homered in their debuts for their new teams, he said he didn’t feel any additional pressure. But his teammates might disagree.
“We were going to send him back if he didn’t hit one,” Ruf joked. “Luckily we get to keep him.”
The unsung hero? Starting pitcher Webb, who didn’t allow an Astros runner to reach scoring position from the second inning until his final batter in the seventh inning. The young right-hander surrendered a tworun homer to Yuli Gurriel in the first inning but blanked Houston for the remainder of his sixplus innings.
Although he only recorded three strikeouts, Webb induced 12 ground-ball outs against a tough Astros lineup.
Webb went 11 straight batters without allowing a hit until Aledmys Diaz led off the seventh with a single, and Chase McCormick followed with another. Kapler opted for reliever Dominic Leone, who got out of the two-on, no-out jam without allowing a run.
“I thought he settled in nicely,” Kapler said of Webb. “What we’re seeing consistently now is his stuff plays and plays against some of the best hitters out there.”
After starting the homestand by dropping two of three to the Pirates, the Giants secured backto-back series wins over the division-rival Dodgers and, now, the first-place Astros. With a threegame lead over Los Angeles in the National League West, the Giants now embark on a sevengame road trip starting Monday in Arizona.