What we learned as Giants dominate D-backs in home run bonanza

What we learned as Giants dominate D-backs in home run bonanza originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

BOX SCORE

PHOENIX — Forget about the push to simply get back to .500. At this point, it might be time to ask if the Eliminated Giants can lead the league in run differential.

They hit five homers on Tuesday and crushed the Arizona Diamondbacks, continuing a late-season tear that has them back at .500 for the first time since Aug. 30. The 11-0 win gave the Giants their first five-game winning streak of the season, one that started the day after they officially were eliminated from the MLB playoff race.

They will finish this road trip with series wins over the Baltimore Orioles, Kansas City Royals and Diamondbacks, all of whom look headed for the postseason, and they have a chance to make it an 8-1 trip on Wednesday night.

Tuesday’s game quickly turned into a blowout. The Giants homered five times in a span of four innings at Chase Field and got a pair during a six-run third inning.

(The huge night got their run differential to plus-six. They won’t lead the league, although at the rate they’re hitting recently, nothing seems impossible.)

Bombs Away

The only thing the Giants didn’t do Tuesday was hit one into the pool at Chase Field, although they came close. Mike Yastrzemski aimed for the deck early on but was robbed of a homer by Corbin Carroll. The Diamondbacks had no shot on the rest of them.

The first was a moonshot from Patrick Bailey, his first since July 10. Michael Conforto and Brett Wisely both hit three-run shots in the third inning, becoming the first Giants duo to accomplish that feat since Alex Dickerson and Wilmer Flores did it on April 20, 2021.

Conforto’s homer gave him 20 for the first time since 2019. Wisely’s came on a left-on-left breaking ball and was his fourth of the year.

Heliot Ramos hit a 426-foot blast in the fourth and Tyler Fitzgerald made it 10-0 with his 15th homer. It was the first since August 14 for a rookie who homered in five straight games at one point in July.

Mr. 200

A groundout from Lourdes Gurriel Jr. to open the second inning got Logan Webb to 200 innings for the second straight year, making him the first Giant to pull that off since Jeff Samardzija in 2016-17. Webb would be working on three straight, but the previous staff slow-played him and then shut him down at the end of the 2022 season.

Webb went six shutout innings, allowing four hits and striking out three. He lowered his ERA to 3.47, which ranks 10th in the National League.

The Giants have a decision to make for Sunday’s game, which could be started by either Webb or Hayden Birdsong. Before Tuesday’s game, manager Bob Melvin said the staff is undecided, but Webb might start the finale if he has a chance to win the MLB innings title for a second straight year. He currently has a 10 1/3-inning edge over Aaron Nola for the NL crown and is tied with Kansas City’s Seth Lugo for the overall lead.

If Webb shuts it down and only leads the NL, that still would put him in select company. The last Giants pitcher to lead the league in back-to-back years was Gaylord Perry in 1969 and 1970.

Spoilers

The five-game winning streak is the Giants’ first since July 8-18 of last season, when they won seven straight during a stretch that included the MLB All-Star break. They had four four-game streaks earlier this season, but one of their main problems has been a complete inability to keep momentum going. Until now, apparently.

Tuesday’s win was particularly helpful to old friends John Brebbia, Jorge Soler and Luke Jackson in Atlanta. The Braves beat the New York Mets 5-1 earlier in the day, and they’re now just half a game behind the Diamondbacks for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

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