Giants move within half-game of Dodgers after historic rout
LOS ANGELES — Suddenly, the Giants are the most well liked staff in baseball.
Or possibly it’s not so sudden. Their 15-0 thrashing of the Dodgers on Saturday evening at Dodger Stadium was a sixth straight victory, however the reality is that San Francisco has been doing this for some time now. Dating again to May 15, the Giants have received 21 of their final 30 video games, a .700 clip that’s the very best successful share within the Majors in that stretch.
“Obviously, it’s huge to get a series win against L.A., have a chance at a sweep tomorrow,” mentioned starter Alex Wood, who threw 5 scoreless innings in his return from the 15-day injured listing. “But I think we’re just really settling into who we are as a team. It’s been really fun to watch.”
During their present successful streak, the Giants are averaging 9.7 runs per sport, having scored seven or extra runs in all however one contest. Saturday may need been essentially the most complete-team effort, with nearly everybody contributing, particularly on offense.
There was LaMonte Wade Jr., who had three hits, together with a three-run house run within the fifth. Wade additionally confirmed nice self-discipline by working a stroll to load the bases within the sixth for pinch-hitter J.D. Davis, who made it a laugher for San Francisco with a grand slam.
Brandon Crawford recorded his first four-hit sport of the season, driving in a pair of runs earlier than leaving within the seventh for defensive alternative David Villar. It was Crawford’s first sport with greater than three hits since Aug. 16, 2021, vs. the Mets.
It’s been an general down 12 months on offense for the 36-year-old Crawford, who entered the evening batting .203 with a .630 OPS. But supervisor Gabe Kapler has seen an upturn for Crawford because the Giants’ late-May sequence in Minnesota. In that 17-game span, Crawford has gone 17-for-50 (.340) with six doubles.
“Across the board, he’s having good at-bats and playing good defense,” mentioned Kapler. “Really a pivotal part of our team when he’s on the field.”
Besides the ultimate rating, the Giants scored one other victory by getting Davis into the sport after he was out of the lineup for the previous three contests resulting from a proper ankle sprain. With lefty Alex Vesia on the mound, Joc Pederson due up and the Giants already main by 5, Kapler known as upon Davis, who crushed a first-pitch four-seamer a Statcast-projected 441 toes to useless middle.
Davis credited some work he did in early batting observe for his potential to drive the ball the best way he did.
“[I’ve] just been a little bit inconsistent at the plate and [was trying to] just kind of get back to the basics of things and get back on that fastball,” mentioned Davis. “And so it kind of translated in the game — just being more direct to the baseball, direct to the heater, and good things just happened.”
The victory moved the Giants to only half a sport behind the second-place Dodgers within the National League West standings. They stay 4 1/2 video games behind the first-place D-backs.
Add it to the intensive story that’s the Giants-Dodgers rivalry, because the Giants have seldom carried out this sort of harm in opposition to their foes — on both coast. This was the Giants’ first defeat of the Dodgers by 10 or extra runs since Sept. 14, 2013, a 19-3 rout at Dodger Stadium. It was the primary time the Giants have shut out the Dodgers by 12-plus runs since a 12-0 sport in L.A. on April 3, 2002. It was the Giants’ second-largest shutout victory all time vs. the Dodgers, behind a 16-0 win on July 3, 1949, on the Polo Grounds.
Wood, who’s skilled the rivalry from each side, is aware of in addition to anybody how a lot performances like this imply.
“Every time they come to our place or we come here, it’s heightened,” mentioned Wood. “There’s always big crowds. You want to come and you want to win a series. And we come in and win the first two, we’re playing really good ball. But I think it’s a day at a time with us. We’re coming in every day focused. Guys are working hard. Everybody’s taking accountability for their jobs. And it’s just kind of staying process-oriented.”
