San Francisco – The Giants started their homestand on a strong note Monday night, defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks 11-5 at Oracle Park. The win extends San Francisco’s hot stretch, as the team has now won 11 of its last 14 games while keeping pace in the National League playoff race.
The Giants offense came alive with five home runs and a decisive five-run rally in the sixth inning. After Matt Chapman reached on a fielding error by shortstop Geraldo Perdomo, Luis Matos worked a walk and Jung Hoo Lee singled to load the bases. Christian Koss delivered the breakthrough with a two-run double down the line, giving the Giants a 6-4 lead. Patrick Bailey followed with a sacrifice fly, and Heliot Ramos broke the game open with a two-run homer to left-center, extending the advantage to 9-4.
“It’s just a blast to watch,” Giants Ace Logan Webb said on the home runs. “Obviously, when you’re pitching, you love when you see 11 runs. Even when I’m not pitching, just seeing these guys be resilient, stick to the plans and bring energy. We had a rough stretch for a while in every facet of what we were doing. Pitching, hitting, defense. It wasn’t the way we wanted to play baseball, and now, we’re playing the right way. We’re just giving ourselves a chance. We’re coming out with a lot of energy right now. We’ve just got to do it every day.”
Ramos’ homer was his 17th of the season, continuing what has been a breakout year for the young outfielder. Chapman, Lee, Matos, and Patrick Bailey also contributed key hits, while the lineup showed patience by drawing walks and capitalizing on the D-backs defensive miscues.
That’s what we’ve been doing,” Melvin said on the hits. “It’s why we’ve been successful. It’s been a huge reason for it. Warm night here, the ball carries a little bit. I think even the ball Jung Hoo hit was like 94 mph and went out. We definitely have the guys to do it.”
San Francisco put on a power show, crushing five home runs, the most in a single game at Oracle Park since July 31, 2001. The bats have been red hot, with the Giants scoring 10 or more runs in four of their last six home games. Riding this offensive surge, they’ll look to keep the fireworks going as they chase a strong finish to the season.
On the pitching side, Webb battled through early trouble before settling in, and the bullpen shut the door to preserve the lead. He also reached a career milestone tonight, recording 200 strikeouts for the first time in his seven-year career. Webb worked six innings, allowing five hits while striking out seven and walking two. Webb entered the game knowing he needed just a few more punchouts to reach the mark, and he delivered in front of the home crowd.
“I told [catcher Patrick Bailey] before the game, ‘I’m only six away, but I’m not counting,’” Webb said of his milestone. “Obviously, I knew about it, but the goal is to win every day and try to win every game that we can. I’m just happy we were able to do that.”
“Just super proud,” Bailey said on Webb. “He works his butt off. To be able to accomplish that goal for him is really special.
I think it’s just execution. I feel like this year, he’s been really dialed in about locating with pitches. I feel like the four-seam (fastball) has been really big this year with two strikes to kind of take some pressure off the changeup. The sweeper has been really good, too, to both sides. And obviously, one of the biggest things, too, is just count leverage. You strike more guys out when you get to two strikes, and he does a really good job of that.”
With the win, San Francisco continues to build momentum heading into the final stretch of the season. They’ll look to carry their offensive surge into Game 2 of the series Tuesday night against Arizona.
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