Taking cues from 2014 team, SF Giants appear to be hitting stride at right time
SAN FRANCISCO — If these Giants were looking for motivation with six weeks left in their improbable playoff push, the 2014 team that celebrated the 10-year anniversary of its World Series title on the field before Saturday’s game provided a tried and true formula.
That group owned a middling record in August, snuck into the postseason as the final seed and rode its pitching to a third trophy in five years.
This year’s team, many of whom took in the ceremonies from the top step of the third-base dugout, faces even longer odds. But like that squad a decade prior, they seem to be hitting their stride at the right time.
Behind seven strong innings from Logan Webb and just enough timely hitting, they picked up their fourth win in a row, 3-1 over the Detroit Tigers, matching their season-long winning streak but showing increasing signs of staying power.
The win was the Giants’ sixth in their past seven games, their 12th in 15 since July 25, and clinched their fifth series win in a row. Improving to 61-58, the Giants moved three games above .500 for the first time all season.
In his first official day as the Giants’ new closer, Ryan Walker was called into duty to protect a two-run lead and allowed the potential tying run to reach base with one out but painted the outside corner to ring up Dillon Dingler and snuck a slider past Javier Baez to notch his first save of the season.
After the Tigers touched Webb for the first run of the game in the top of the fifth, the Giants answered with three of their own in the bottom half, which proved to be enough behind their ace, who limited his opponent to one or fewer runs for his third straight start while allowing only five base runners over seven innings.
Exhausting a season-high 110 pitches, Webb matched his season-high with eight strikeouts, including back-to-back punchouts to end the fifth after Parker Meadows sliced a one-out triple and scored when shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald’s throw home on a chopper from the next batter was late and offline.
The only other trouble Webb ran into came in the sixth, which he got out of with an assist from third baseman Matt Chapman. The Tigers were threatening with two men on and two outs, but Chapman turned a potential run-scoring blooper into a highlight-reel catch to end the inning, leaping and twisting his body to snag Bligh Madris’ soft line drive out of midair.
The No. 9 batter in the Giants’ lineup, Brett Wisely, delivered their biggest hit of the day, poking a double past the bag at first base that drove home Mike Yastrzemski and Jerar Encarnacion, who led off the inning with back-to-back base hits.
Wisely’s RBI knock gave the Giants their first lead, 2-1, and Heliot Ramos singled him home to make it 3-1.
Up next
The Giants will go for a season-high fifth win in a row while looking to clinch only their third series sweep of the season Sunday with RHP Hayden Birdsong scheduled to face RHP Keider Montero (2-5, 5.62). First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 p.m.