Most people can agree that baseball is a crazy sport for a variety of reasons. How else to explain the Giants’ recent explosion at the plate?
Consider that the current surge of power began just days after the front office traded away slugger Jorge Soler, the free agent pick-up who was signed to supply the bulk of power in manager Bob Melvin’s lineup.
Getting away from Oracle Park for a bit obviously has helped, too.
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The Giants banged out three more home runs in Wednesday’s 7-4 win over the Washington Nationals, giving them 15 through the first six games of this seven-game road trip.
“It makes a huge impact when you’re not having to string a ton of hits together,” Melvin told reporters at Nationals Park. “Situationally, we haven’t been great lately, so those homers have a big impact in the game, put a lot of energy in our dugout.”
San Francisco has hit multiple home runs on each game of this trip. The Giants did that only twice in the 16 games before that.
Although their best chances of making it to the MLB playoffs continue to rest on the shoulders of the pitching, things can get a lot easier if the bats keep doing the type of damage they have been recently.
San Francisco Giants
Mike Yastrzemski, Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman all homered against the Nationals on Wednesday. It was Chapman’s fourth home run in four games on this road trip, while Ramos’ drive was his second in as many days.
In all, eight different Giants players have gone deep during this road trip.
That list includes Tyler Fitzgerald (3), Michael Conforto (2) along with Yastrzemski, Casey Schmitt, Jerar Encarnación and LaMonte Wade Jr., who all hit one apiece.
Yastrzemski, whose home run against the Nationals was his first since July 11, doesn’t sound too surprised by the recent upswing in power swings from his teammates.
“There’s a lot of good work going on behind the scenes,” Yastrzemski said on NBC Sports Bay Area's “Giants Postgame Live.” “I’ve seen a lot of guys in the cage early lately, a lot of guys taking very intentful reps.”
The veteran outfielder said it’s not just typical batting cage work. There’s a meaningful moment behind each swing the hitters take.
“It’s not necessarily the amount [of swings], just the intent behind them,” he said. “So when you get into August and you’re getting tired and you’re feeling a little heavy, the feet are heavy, the legs are heavy you got to find a way to dial in your swing.
“There’s adjustments that have to be made. Maybe you have to shorten up a little but, maybe you have to choke up a little bit, whatever it may be. Guys are kind of honing in on that and making some great adjustments.”
The timing is perfect, too, given that San Francisco’s rotation has hit a few hiccups in recent days.
Blake Snell started Wednesday’s game, and while he pitched an effective six innings, he wasn’t as dominant as he was in his previous start when he no-hit the Cincinnati Reds.
On Tuesday, Hayden Birdsong got roughed up and was out of the game after two innings. Robbie Ray did his thing and earned a win against the Reds on Saturday, but a day earlier Kyle Harrison was unable to make it through four innings.
The pitching staff has done a solid job all season of picking up the offense, or lack thereof. It has been the other way around these past few days, and if the Giants can keep it up on both sides, the idea of making it to the postseason becomes a lot more realistic.
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