The San Francisco Giants lost the season series, but they got a measure of revenge by sweeping the Philadelphia Phillies at AT&T Park.
3 Up
1 – Starters Setting the Tone
Simply put, Giants’ starting pitchers had not been good entering their second series against the Phillies. It was extremely apparent when they were in Philadelphia, where Giants’ pitching allowed 32 runs in 32 innings (starters allowed 18 runs in 16 innings). Overall in the month of May, San Francisco starters had two outings in which they allowed zero or one run.
In the month of June, they already have three such outings.Chris Strattongot it started on Friday, channeling the pitcher that owned an ERA close to two in the season’s first month. He threw six shutout innings, using his curveball to great effect while striking out seven.Andrew Suarezfollowed on Saturday with the best start of his young big league career, hurling seven shutout innings and allowing just three hits.
The finale sawDereck Rodrigueztake the mound for his starting debut, and he kept the momentum rolling. He allowed a solo home run to his counterpart,Jake Arrieta, but that was his only blemish (and the only run Philadelphia scored in the entire series). He was the beneficiary when the offense exploded for five runs in the bottom of the sixth, giving him his first career win after a strong effort.
This is great news for a rotation that had fallen on hard times, and will head into a series with division rival Arizona with a lot of momentum. Besides that, their aceMadison Bumgarnerreturns on Tuesday. Things are looking up.
2 – The Defense
Another area that was lacking for the Giants was their defense. They entered this series with the most errors in the National League, and routinely put themselves into problematic situations because of shoddy defense.
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Much like the starting pitching, the defense stepped up big time. On Friday,Gorkys Hernandezmade a stellar running catch in left-center field, robbingOdubel Herreraof extra bases. On Saturday,Andrew McCutchenmade one of his best catches as a Giant, taking an RBI triple away fromCesar Hernandezdeep in Triple’s Alley. Plus, second base defense was much smoother (more on that in a bit).
3 – Back with a Vengeance
The Giants had some returns this weekend, and they looked fantastic.Joe Panikmade it back from thumb surgery much quicker than expected, and showed absolutely no rust in three games against Philly. He had six hits, plus reached twice via walk, while scoring four runs and driving in two more. His scored both runs in Saturday’s win, and had the shutout-breaking hit on Sunday.
Panik’s presence at second base was especially missed, as Giants’ keystoners committed eight errors in his absence. Again, Panik looked like he never left and played a smooth, crisp second base all weekend.
Mark Melanconalso made his return to the mound, and looked incredible in his 2018 debut. He struck out all three batters he faced, getting each of them to swing and miss on nasty, diving curveballs. Melancon won’t return to the closer role (at least not yet), but adding him to an already strong and deep bullpen will only make the team that much better.
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