SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants, on the heels of an exciting, yet emotionally draining road trip, returned home to begin perhaps their toughest homestand of the season.
No rest for the weary.
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.
San Francisco (28-27) welcomed the Philadelphia Phillies, who boast MLB's best record (38-17), to Oracle Park on Monday for a three-game series that precedes a three-game series with the vaunted New York Yankees (37-18), who own the league's third-best record.
Struggling left-handed pitcher Blake Snell (ND, 4 IP, 5 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 2 BB, 7 K) got the start against Phillies righty Taijuan Walker (L, 6 IP, 9 H, 6 R, 5 ER, 2 BB, 4 K) as San Francisco looked to bounce back from a frustrating walk-off loss to the New York Mets on Sunday.
Here are three observations from the Giants' 8-4 win.
Snell Still Searching
San Francisco Giants
To say Snell needed a good outing on Monday would be an understatement.
He took a small step forward in his first start off the injured list in the Giants' win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday, but struggled in the fourth inning before Sean Hjelle surrendered a back-breaking grand slam to Bryan Reynolds that scored three of Snell's inherited runners.
Giants manager Bob Melvin told reporters pregame that he hoped to see more "incremental progress" from Snell on Monday, and it doesn't seem his wish was granted.
Snell cruised through the first two innings, throwing 26 pitches and striking out three Phillies hitters. He then ran into trouble in the third, surrendering a two-run home run to Kyle Schwarber to cut the Giants' lead to one. His response was ... underwhelming.
Edmundo Sosa roped a one-out triple in the top of the fourth and came around to score on a wild pitch, tying the game at three. From there on out, Snell seemed off. A mid-inning ceremonial stoppage for Memorial Day was followed by an untimely Matt Chapman fielding error before a bloop single to shallow center scored the runner from second, giving the Phillies a 4-3 lead.
A frustrated Snell threw 35 pitches in the inning and finished the day with 90 total through four frames. Not what he nor the Giants were hoping for.
Another Bad Break
Thankfully, not literally.
After Luis Matos led off the bottom of the fifth with a single, LaMonte Wade Jr. doubled to right and injured himself sliding into second.
Wade slid late and awkwardly into second and immediately rolled over in pain, grabbing the back of his left thigh. He had to be helped off the field by two trainers and walked with a significant limp.
The injury would be another big blow to a team that has suffered numerous injuries already this season.
Wade not only leads all of baseball in on-base percentage but has been the Giants' best hitter all season. If he were to miss an extended period of time, it would leave a significant hole at the top of the lineup.
The Giants announced later in the game that Wade suffered a left hamstring strain, which seems like decent news considering how serious it appeared at first.
Riding the Hot Hand
Brett Wisely started at shortstop again on Monday, and once again proved why he's receiving an extended look over star prospect Marco Luciano and likely not going anywhere any time soon.
Melvin told reporters pregame that Luciano likely will start one game this series, possibly Wednesday against Phillies lefty Christopher Sanchez. Otherwise, it's Wisely's job to lose with veteran shortstop Nick Ahmed still on the injured list.
And Wisely again came up big offensively, collecting his third consecutive multi-hit game with an RBI single in the bottom of the second and an RBI double in the bottom of the sixth.
In 20 at-bats this season, Wisely is batting .450 with one home run and six RBI.
Melvin also mentioned pregame that Wisely hasn't been tested much at short this season, but that should change quickly as he continues to pile up well-deserved starts for the time being.