When Buster Posey said “it’s time to go,” the Giants listened. It feels like longer than five days ago that the Giants’ legend and current President of Baseball Operations uttered the casual call to action. Since then, his team is undefeated, ripping off five straight wins to put a bow on a nice homestand that had a disastrous beginning. Are they dominating? No. Each win, and the two losses, were decided by just one run. But a 5-2 homestand, and 5-2 in seven one run games, is a positive however it happens.
The last two weeks of Giants baseball are a perfect example of why it’s never a good idea to overreact to short stretches during a 162 game season. The Giants were swept in Detroit, then won a series but dropped a brutal 1-0 loss in Miami. Then they came back home and lost the first two of this huge homestand to the Padres, wasting a Logan Webb shutout and then blowing a save. Giants fans were spiraling, especially considering the historic futility at the plate.
Have the bats gotten better since that stretch? Very marginally. In the five straight wins the Giants currently sit on as they fly east to Denver, they’ve scored six, three, four, three and four runs. Not setting any records, but compared to the end of the last road trip and the first two games against San Diego, it feels like a run-scoring barrage.
The Giants got back to their walk off ways on Friday night. And then again on Saturday. That’s eight walk off wins in just over two months! The Giants led the Braves 4-2 on Friday before Atlanta tied it up late. Erik Miller wriggled out of the top of the 10th without allowing a run with the Manfred runner, setting up the Giants for a– Gulp– one run to win situation with the Manfred runner. They did their best to not score and torture their fans furthermore, but the Braves’ closer Pierce Johnson wouldn’t allow it.
It’s the second straight year that Fitzgerald scampered home with the winning run on a wild pitch. He did so on July 9, 2024. When he wandered off third base ahead of Johnson’s errant slider on Friday night, he recalled that moment and was ready to fire in the event a pitch got away.
Luckily for the Giants, and unluckily for the Braves, Johnson was again on the mound when the game was decided on Saturday. This time, it was a save situation, and San Francisco was down to its final out. Heliot Ramos continued his hot June with a one out single, then Matt Chapman came up with two outs and Ramos on first. He turned on a hanging slider, smacking the 1-1 pitch out to left field and sending a packed Oracle Park into a frenzy.
The comeback win was reminiscent of the April Giants we all knew and loved. The team that constantly fought back. If those never say die Giants can be a factor in June, it could be a fruitful summer.
Here’s how Chapman’s walk-off two run blast sounded on KNBR, courtesy of Dave Fleming.
On Sunday, it was another comeback victory to complete the sweep and put the Giants 10 games over .500, a mark that equals the season high. Mike Yastrzemski smoked a two run game tying double in the fourth, then he scored when Ozzie Albies booted what would have been an inning ending 4-3 putout. Another shutdown inning from Randy Rodriguez, followed by a Camilo Doval save, and the sweep was complete.
The sky was falling not too long ago. Now, the Giants are just a game back of first place as they head to take on the lowly Rockies in Denver. It’s a long season, Giants fans. Don;t get too high or too low.