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San Francisco Giants Morning Minute: Offense Snaps Out of Funk, For Now

By Sean Bialaszek

Jun 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28, second from right) celebrates with team mates after hitting a walk off single during the tenth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 in extra innings. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
Jun 11, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey (28, second from right) celebrates with team mates after hitting a walk off single during the tenth inning of the game against the Los Angeles Dodgers at AT&T Park. The San Francisco Giants defeated the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 in extra innings. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports /
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On this edition of the San Francisco Giants Morning Minute, we discuss the Giants finally snapping out of a funk, and Pagan’s rehab assignment.

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Good morning, San Francisco Giants’ fans, and welcome to another edition of the Giants Morning Minute. On Saturday, the Giants needed 10 innings to walk off on the Los Angeles Dodgers, beating them 5-4 in the middle game of their series. Chris Stratton was the winner, getting his first career big league win, while Kenley Jansen took the loss.

The divisional standings are right back where they were when the series started. The Giants lead the Dodgers by four games.

Here’s what went down on Saturday.

1 – Did the Real Offense Finally Stand Up?

For nine innings plus one out in the 10th, it was another one of those subdued performances for the Giants’ offense. They scored just three runs, and while they had worked seven walks, they couldn’t come through with that big hit that gave the lineup the life they’d been missing for far too long.

After the first out in the bottom of the 10th, those hits finally started coming. Against one of baseball’s best closers in Jansen and down a run, the Giants found their life. Denard Span got the party started with a double down the right field line. Joe Panik brought him home with a flare to left field that dropped for a single. Brandon Belt, hitting third in the lineup for just the second time all season, followed suit with a looper into right field that found green grass.

It was up to Buster Posey, who has been going through his own fair share of struggles for a long while. Using a new bat after discarding one that didn’t have any hits in it, Posey lined a single up the middle, just out of the reach of Dodgers’ shortstop Corey Seager. Panik came home to score the game-winning run, maybe giving the Giants offense’ one of those old cliché “momentum building” wins.

After failing time and time again in the first nine innings, the offense finally woke up. They were given opportunity after opportunity, but it wasn’t until their back was truly against the wall that they responded. After watching the lineup toil away so often in recent weeks, this win felt good, for the players, for the fans, for manager Bruce Bochy, who called it the team’s “best win of the year“.

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2 – Angel Pagan Begins his Rehab

On Saturday, Giants’ left fielder Angel Pagan began his rehab assignment following a strained hamstring. With the Sacramento River Cats, Pagan led off and played left field. In three at-bats, Pagan collected a single but struck out twice. He was pulled from the game in the sixth inning, giving way to an exciting young player, Austin Slater. Being removed from a game that early is typical for a player in his first rehab game.

The tentative plan for Pagan is to rehab with Sacramento through Monday’s game, take Tuesday off, and rejoin the Giants on Wednesday. That timetable is, of course, not set in stone. There is the possibility for setbacks, but also the possibility that the left fielder is activated earlier than Wednesday. Judging from his first game, he may need those couple extra games to get his timing and strike zone back after being sidelined nearly three weeks.

Next: Giants Morning Minute: Cueto Settles in Quickly

And that will do it for this edition of the Giants Morning Minute. Up next, the Giants and Dodgers will battle in the rubber-game of this series, and it will be on national television again (yaaaaaayyyyy again). Jake Peavy takes the ball for San Francisco, while 19-year-old sensation Julio Urias is back out there looking for his first win.

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