SAN FRANCISCO – Giants fans who stuck around for 18 innings of baseball and a free country concert got their money's worth Saturday night at Oracle Park.
After witnessing a career outing from Blake Snell just hours before, Hayden Birdsong was solid in the second half of the doubleheader and helped fuel San Francisco to a 5-0 win against the Colorado Rockies.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Bay Area and California sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
The Giants' bats woke up by the second game, and Tyler Fitzgerald hit his eighth home run in 10 games.
San Francisco returned to action after the All-Star break with consecutive series losses on the road. It returned home Friday and responded with an 11-4 blowout win over Colorado before Saturday’s doubleheader sweep.
The Giants now have won three in a row and can extend their win streak to four against the Rockies in Sunday’s series finale.
Here are the takeaways from the win:
San Francisco Giants
Birdsong Solid Again
The last time Birdsong toed the rubber, he strung together a historic start.
That was six days ago, against the same team he faced in the second half of Saturday’s doubleheader.
He may not have stuck out 12 batters, but he tossed another solid outing.
Birdsong struck out eight batters and walked three in five scoreless innings.
In his last two starts, he has 20 strikeouts and allowed just two runs in 11 innings.
Fatigue No Factor
Like every other MLB team, the Giants got some much-needed rest during last week’s MLB All-Star break.
Since returning to action, though, they haven’t had a day off.
That has been the case for most teams, who have played nine straight games since last Friday. The only difference for the Giants, however, is they played their 10th game exactly 45 minutes after their ninth.
But fatigue didn't seem to bother the Giants on Saturday. Soler led things off in the first with a single to right, but he didn't stay there long. Yastrzemski's triple brought him home and put the Giants on the board within the first few minutes of the game.
In the second, the offensive momentum continued. Matt Chapman doubled to left and Brett Wisely's double brought Chapman home to extend the lead to 2-0. The Giants could've taken a 3-0 lead but Wisely's safe-call at home plate on Curt Casali's bunt was overturned.
Three innings later, Casali led things off with a single to left. Soler doubled and Yastrzemski's sac fly scored Casali and moved Soler to third.
Then, Heliot Ramos singled and Soler scored.
Just when we thought the action was over with a 4-0 lead into the eighth, red-hot Fitzgerald crushed his eighth homer in 10 games.
Fitzgerald Does It Again
Tyler Fitzgerald cannot be stopped.
About 24 hours after smashing two homers in Friday's win, Fitzgerald took John Curtiss' 89-mph slider 385-feet deep into left center field.
The insurance bomb gave San Francisco the comfortable 5-0 lead in the bottom of the eighth.
The 26-year-old is the first Giants player with eight or more homers in a 10-game span since ... Barry Bonds in 2004.
Enough said.
Download and follow the Giants Talk Podcast