San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: A Winning Streak
The San Francisco Giants finally have their first three-game winning streak of the season, so let’s find some positives and negatives from the series.
The San Francisco Giants hosted the Cincinnati Reds for four games, and got a measure of revenge for the embarrassing losses they were handed in Cincinnati. They took the last three games of the series to notch their first three-game winning streak of the series, so here are 3 Ups and 3 Downs from the set.
3 UP
1 – Welcome Back, Denard Span
Denard Span was activated before Thursday’s series opener with the Reds, and it was just in time. The center fielder came back hot right away, picking up four hits on Thursday in what was the start of a magnificent series. He picked up at least one hit in all four games, adding three hits in game two and a hit in both games three and four.
Span went on to the disabled list with four extra-base hits in 14 games, and doubled that total against Cincinnati. In game one, he hit his fifth double of the year to go along with his first home run, and backed that up with a leadoff shot that bounced into McCovey Cove on Friday. On Sunday, he collected his first triple of the year by taking advantage of the ample ground in Triple’s Alley.
He came back hitting a lowly .200, but ends the series at .268. Though the center fielder has been often criticized after a down 2016 season and a poor start to 2017, but Span showed he can be a real difference maker.
2 – Pitching Improvements
In three games in Cincinnati, Giants’ starting pitchers combined to allow 19 earned runs (23 total runs) in 13.1 innings in three straight demoralizing losses. They also combined for 27 hits and eight walks allowed. This series was a complete reversal of fortunes.
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In 29 innings (over seven innings per start), Giants’ starters allowed only eight runs, 27 hits, and seven walks. Ty Blach bounced back from a 10-run outing in Cincinnati to hold the Reds to two runs over seven innings on Thursday. Johnny Cueto gave up two runs in seven innings on Friday after giving up four runs (two earned) in Cincinnati, and laid the groundwork for a tremendous bullpen performance in a 17-inning marathon. Matt Moore held the Reds to a run in 7.1 innings on Saturday, and Jeff Samardzija followed up with 6.2 innings of three-run ball to earn his first win of the year on Sunday.
For Samardzija, it was his third straight start without allowing a walk, his longest streak since the 2014 season when he ended the campaign with a trio of walk-less starts.
3 – Moving On Up
The Giants still have a long way to climb to get back to respectability, but they made the first steps in this series. On Sunday, they won their third straight ballgame to earn their longest win streak of the season so far. The third win moved them out of last place in baseball, and the National League West, moving ahead of the San Diego Padres and the Atlanta Braves. They also no longer have the game’s worst run differential, either. That also belongs to the Padres.
Baby steps, right?