San Francisco Giants 3 Up, 3 Down: Snaking a Series Win
The San Francisco Giants found a way to take two of three from the Arizona Diamondbacks, securing another series win and staying at .500
3 UP
1 – Happy Hanson
There are hundreds and hundreds of minor league signings every season. Teams take chances on players , hand out a minor league deal, and most of the time, it doesn’t really amount to much. Every once in a while, though, teams strike gold. It sure feels like the Giants have struck gold with Alen Hanson.
Hanson returned from the disabled list over the weekend after Brandon Belt hit the disabled list, and he’s done nothing but hit. Literally, he’s done nothing but hit. He hasn’t played a defensive inning, but has taken four at-bats and come up with hits all four times. In the fourth inning on Monday, he slashed a two-run double down the left field line, breaking a 2-2 tie to give the Giants a lead they wouldn’t relinquish. He added another double in the ninth on Tuesday, eventually coming around to score.
The biggest hit came on Wednesday. With the Giants down two runs with two outs in the ninth, the pinch-hitting Hanson skied a ball to right field. After more than six seconds of hangtime, the ball landed in the arcade, tying the game and giving the Giants the opportunity to walk it off in extra innings. It was his fifth home run of the year, surpassing his career total entering the season, and he’s hitting .346/.386/.750 as a Giant. What a find.
2 – Power Play
The home run ball was the Giants’ friend in this series. They went deep four times on Monday, with four different Giants taking the grand tour. Andrew McCutchen and Brandon Crawford started the fourth inning by going back to back, erasing a two-run deficit. Pablo Sandoval led off the next inning with a blast of his own, turning on a pitch way inside to extend the lead. Nick Hundley’s pinch-hit dinger in the eighth gave the Giants 10 runs on the night.
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After a homer-less day on Tuesday, Sandoval hit his fourth of the season in the first on Wednesday. He crushed a Clay Buchholz offering, sending it 447 feet away for the Giants’ second-longest homer of the year (Mac Williamson’s 464-foot blast still stands tall). And of course, Hanson’s ninth inning shot gave the Giants new life.
Through 62 games, the Giants have already left the yard 65 times to put them on pace for 170 on the season. That’s a mighty impressive total for a team that hit just 128 home runs last year, the worst mark in baseball by a mile.
3 – Bumgarner’s Back
Madison Bumgarner made his long-awaited return on Tuesday, and it was a sight for sore eyes. The big lefty had some expected bouts of command problems. Though he didn’t walk anyone, he fell behind in the count more than he’s probably accustomed to and left some pitches in very hittable location. But when he needed to, he was able to make his pitches. He held the Diamondbacks to two runs despite plenty of scoring chances, keeping his team in the game the entire way.
Though the starting pitching has been better lately, having Bumgarner, the ace, the stopper, back is a huge boost. He wasn’t perfect in his re-debut, but there were plenty of signs that things will only get better from here.