The Giants Win the… (!!!)

Okay, so it wasn’t exactly Bobby Thompson’s shot heard ‘round the world to win the National League pennant. But after losing six straight to start the season’s second half, the San Francisco Giants’ win on Saturday sure felt exhilarating. Or at least like a silverback gorilla was lifted off the team’s shoulders.

It wasn’t easy, though.

It took 12 innings and the Yankees’ bats being slightly more futile than the Giants’ bats that produce all of two runs. And if it wasn’t for fifth/sixth outfielder Mac Williamson, who knocked in both Giants runs in the game, the offense would have been completely punchless.

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Regardless, the Giants won, and now they can move forward, with their season-long losing streak in the past.

Although…there were some concerning continuances of bad trends, such as the aforementioned offensive futility and a pair of errors that came a day after the Giants committed four. So, six errors in two days. Yuck.

On the positive side, the pitching was fantastic. Johnny Cueto gave up just one run over six innings. And after he was pulled for having tossed 117 pitches, the bullpen one-upped him, combining for six shutout innings. And Williamson proved his worth.

But at the time of this writing, the Giants are down 2-0 early in the rubber match against the Yanks. New York’s starter, Nathan Eovaldi, has an awful 4.84 ERA, but the Giants made the previous day’s starter, Ivan Nova look like a Cy Young candidate despite carrying an even worse ERA than Eovaldi’s. If the Giants go on to lose Sunday, Saturday’s win will be but a blip in an otherwise downhill slide.

Next: Giants Losing Continues; Time to Worry?

Of course, if General Manager Bobby Evans can pull off a big trade with the Yankees this weekend, for either closer Aroldis Chapman or outfielder Carlos Beltran, then the series could be considered a big win. The rumor mill doesn’t exactly place the Giants at the head of the Chapman sweepstakes, but only so much can be gleaned from the trade chatter this time of year.