Concerns that the team’s home run stroke wouldn’t survive the off-day, or make the trip across the plains, were alleviated early in St. Louis.
Two batters into Friday night’s contest against the Cardinals, starter Michael McGreevy lobbed a curveball to Rafael Devers that the slugger appeared to be expecting. The pitch wasn’t a hanger either. Breaking ball, down. Devers followed it in like a predator patiently following its prey. He closed his wide-open stance, and as the baseball dropped, brought
his front foot down…and the jaws snapped shut.
The energy generated by the bat head spun his entire upper body. The power of the swing uprooted his lower half, he stumbled backwards across the plate as the baseball took off for straightaway center. 110 MPH off the barrel, 416 feet from home— the San Francisco HR streak had been extended to 18 games with no-doubter, and is now just one game away from tying the franchise record of 19 set back in 1947.
Not to be outdone by his teammate, three pitches later Willy Adames sent out another.
The pop at the top of the line-up, so often exhibited early in games, has been a huge part of San Francisco’s recent redemptive run. Both Devers and Adames have 8 of the 38 homers the Giants have launched over these 18 games.
Since the start of the Chicago series 10 games ago, San Francisco has tallied 83 runs, the second most over that stretch behind the Mets’ 86. No one in the National League has generated more “instant” offense (24 HR), and their 8 1st inning homers lead the Majors over that span, doubling Milwaukee’s second place total. Devers owns 5 of those shots, Adames has 3.
St. Louis’s pitching staff, with the help of Busch Stadium’s dimensions, has been known for suppressing the long ball. McGreevy had given up just 6 homers in 69 innings taking the mound on Friday. But with two swings on Friday night, a scuffling team with a young arm in charge was blown off the back of the mound and onto their heels.
While the top of the order set the tone early, the bottom of the line-up maintained the pressure.
Friday’s 4-run 4th that tipped the game in the Giants favor was started with a single off the bat of number-6 hitter Jung Hoo Lee. Casey Schmitt followed by tucking a double along the third base line to put runners at second and third. Drew Gilbert nearly broke the game open with a slap liner in the gap but a great diving catch by CF Victor Scott II down-graded extra bases to a sacrifice fly. With Schmitt at third, Patrick Bailey singled him home and advanced to second on an infield single by Ramos before coming around to score as Devers’ 99th RBI of the season.
In the 7th, a lead off flare by Matt Chapman scratched the last 0 from the line-up’s hit column. Lee’s third hit of the night, and his 11th triple of the year, knocked in Chapman from first. He’d complete his trip around the bases on a Schmitt single.
A 2-out infield single legged out by Lee in the 8th was San Francisco’s 18th hit of the night, the second time they’re reached that total all season, and the second time since last Friday.
10 of the Giants’s 18 came from the 6 – 9 hitters, including Lee’s second 4-hit game of the season, and a 3-hit night for Bailey (his third consecutive multi-hit game). Lee, Schmitt, Gilbert and Bailey all had an RBI each, accounting for half of the Giants runs in the 8-2 win.
The crooked number in the 4th knocked McGreevy from the hill for his shortest start of the year while snapping his six-game 6 innings pitched streak. Meanwhile, rookie Carson Seymour, in his second start and 12th game, claimed his first career win, allowing 1 earned run on just 2 hits over 5 innings.
Lack of command dogged Seymour going into St. Louis. Walks have been an issue, as well as a penchant for misplaced fastballs out over the heart of the plate. McGreevy allowed 6 HR in 69 IP, Seymour had teed up 8 in 24.2 IP. He surrendered three HR in an earlier outing against Arizona. Baltimore lifted two over the wall in three innings in his debut start. If anyone was expected to supply the opposing team with power, money was on the hard-throwing Seymour.
Instead of the Cardinals’ bats exploding the baseball, the baseball exploded their bats.
A high-90s sinker out Seymour’s hand turned into a wood chipper. Louisville Sluggers were reduced to match-sticks, whittled down to toothpicks. The bat boy needed a wheelbarrow to pick all the mulch from the infield. The right-hander shattered two opponents’ bats on back-to-back pitches in the 5th.
Admittedly, the St. Louis order on Friday wasn’t the most robust. To Seymour’s benefit, most of the Cards’ best hitters were absent with Nolan Arenado, Brendan Donovan, and Alec Burleson recovering from injuries, and catcher Wilson Contreras suspended. That being said, the game was a major stride for the young arm. He stayed away from the barrel for most of the evening, and with the benefit of an early lead, pitched more to contact. He walked just one batter over the first four innings. St. Louis’s only hits against him were mouse-y grounders in the 5th inning that found holes and somehow squeaked out a run.
Going back to the series in Milwaukee, the Giants have played 5 different teams, played in four different cities, and have won 11 of their last 13. They’re still four games behind the Mets and Padres for the third Wild Card spot, but gained another game in the division with San Diego and LA losing to teams recently steam-rolled by San Francisco.
Sneaking into the postseason is increasingly within reach — is the division too? The Giants are six games out of first with 21 games left to play, seven of those are against LA. That first series against the Dodgers is still five games away. It’s a massive swing to say the West (or even a WC spot) is up for grabs, but there’s also been some loud contact with massive swings lately…so who knows. Just like this current home run streak, the Giants have to go one-game at a time, sectioning off an improbable run into manageable chunks. Win an at-bat, win an inning, win a game, win a series, doing what the Padres and Dodgers haven’t been able to do recently: beat teams below them in the standings.
Saturday’s game against St. Lous is a good place to start.
