Giants Continue Hot Streak, Take First Two Over Atlanta Braves

News broke earlier in the day that the Los Angeles Dodgers were in the midst of  a massive blockbuster trade, but the Giants, sitting pretty atop the National League West apparently

weren’t concerned as they took down the Braves for a second consecutive evening. Atlanta took an early lead thanks to some iffy control from Ryan Vogelsong, giving up two solo homers to Jason Heyward and Freddie Freeman but it took until the sixth frame for the Braves to muster any non-home run hit. Freeman eventually took Vogelsong deep one more time in the 7th, making it the first time Ryan had given up more than two homers in a single game this year – but another quality start was all he needed as the Giants’ offense came through in their 5-3 victory – their seventh in eight games.

Heaven Sent – When Angel Pagan gets hot, he blisters. Seriously, he has hot streaks that would make Nate Schierholtz blush and Pagan, who carried the team earlier in the year is doing so again as the season hits its most crucial point. Pagan again rallied the Giants, ending up just a HR shy of a cycle as he seemingly did it all once again – something he’s been doing for pretty much the entire month of August. As we’ve seen, Pagan’s streakier than a drunk at Woodstock so it’s just a matter of time until his bat cools down, but right now, he’s helping the Giants get through a tough stretch in the schedule and do so with an impressive record. He picked the perfect time to go en fuego and the Giants are reaping the rewards.

Offensive Outburst – Coming into tonight, only one team in the Major League’s had scored more runs than the Giants in August, the Texas Rangers. The Giants again continued their offensive ways, plating another handful of runs, keeping pace with the Rangers who scored eight against the Twins tonight. From the top of the lineup to the bottom, the G’s filled up the box score with hits and runs, not to mention base on balls which kept the Braves’ staff on edge.

Pen Control – Ryan Vogelsong wasn’t perfect, but he was effective enough to get the job done as he handed the duties over to the ‘pen in the top half of the seventh. From there, the bullpen, which has been shaky as of late, looked competent, throwing 2 and 2/3 innings of shutout ball to preserve the victory. It’s a welcome change from the last few series’ where the Giants had a mini-meltdown at least once in each set (and did their best to have one last night).

The Giants continue their four game set with Atlanta tomorrow afternoon on Fox, with a win in either of the next two securing a series victory.