San Francisco Giants Series against the Nationals: Three Takeaways

The San Francisco Giants got their second series win of the season, as they took the first two games from the Washington Nationals. A 15-2 loss in the finale still doesn’t change that fact.

In the first game of the series, Mac Williamson wowed everyone as he broke open the scoring in the bottom of the sixth inning. His 464 foot blast, and a really good performance from Chris Stratton carried the line in game one. Stratton went into the seventh inning and kept the Nationals hitters at bay. Strickland closed out the game and looked a tad nervy to start off, but finished strong.

In the second game, Brandon Belt put the Giants out to a 3-0 lead with a two run home-run in the bottom of the third. But flip the next half inning around and Michael Taylor hit a three run bomb to tie the game. Then, that guy again, Mac Williamson destroyed the ball for a second straight game and put one over the fence in center field. The bullpen was lights out after multiple innings from Reyes Moronta, Tony Watson, and Strickland, who only needed 8 pitches to get the save.

We’ll not speak much of the final game, as the Giants got shellacked 15-2, behind a bad pitching performance, and the Nationals destroying every baseball within an inch of the plate. So what are some things we took away from this series? There is quite a lot, but we’ll do our best to keep it only to three.

The Giants Bullpen Is Quite Formidable at the Moment

Look. Yesterday’s game wasn’t fun. But the first two were, and so were the three games over the weekend. The Giants were back to playing good ball. They scored enough runs, and pitched really well, especially with the bullpen in the latter innings.

Let’s take a look though at what the bullpen has been doing during their solid stretch of play recently. So far this season, the Giants Bullpen is actually on pace to do what they did in 2012.

In 2012 they had around a 1.30 WHIP with a mid three’s ERA. That’s exactly where they’re at this year. A middle average bullpen is nice. But what is big here their LOB % is in the top half of the league. That’s better than it was in 2012. They’ve had better bullpens in the past, but the early returns on a bullpen that’s missing two gigantic pieces have been nice.

Hunter Strickland has been good in the closer role, Sam Dyson figured his stuff out this week, and Tony Watson has been lights out all season. With Will Smith coming back potentially next week, and Mark Melancon‘s recovery coming along, we’ll start seeing some of the “problem pieces” in the bullpen, hit the road.

Corey Gearrin and Josh Osich are candidates to be dropped when they come back, while Reyes Moronta and Pierce Johnson have solidified their state in this staff.

Moronta might be my cult favorite reliever at the moment. In 14 innings of work, he’s struck out 14, walked 8, and holds a 0.64 ERA. As long as he can do his best to limit the walks, his stuff is nasty enough to strike people. Being effectively wild is what’s been working with him.

The bullpen hasn’t been the Giants biggest issue, and has actually helped them in multiple games so far this season, and they were huge in the first two games of this series. Here’s to hoping they keep up this trend.

Brandon Belt is Carrying the Giants Offense

Brandon Belt has hit five homers in his last seven games. He’s now on pace to hit a home run every 11.5 official at bats. If he had that pace last season, he would’ve hit 33 homers, and in 2017 he would’ve hit 47. Now I don’t think that’s going to be the case. It’ll probably sit out around 15 or 18 at bats, which still would’ve been good for 25 homers last year.

Belt is good enough to do this. We do know he gets hot and cold, which is why I’d expect a drop-off. But he’s really been locked in lately, and carrying the Giants offense. He’s on an eight game hitting streak, and over that streak he’s brought in eight of the Giants’ 28 runs scored.

When a guy like Belt continues to get on base and make stuff happen, the Giants get wins. That’s how this all goes. If Belt can continue this streak, players like Evan Longoria, Andrew McCutchen, and Buster Posey will have a lot less pressure to get the job done.

Belts push also came with great defensive plays over the weekend in Anaheim, and after a rough start, it seems like Belt is finally getting off a good.

The San Francisco Giants are playing really well now thanks to Brandon Belt, and while we know he is streaky, here’s to hoping he can keep it more consistent this season, and be a continual cog in the middle of the Giants’ lineup.

Next: Pitching fails in 15-2 loss

The San Francisco Giants will take on the Dodgers in their next series, which will end a daunting stretch to their early schedule, especially without some of the key guys. They’ve set themselves up for success when they get healthy in a month or two, and if they can keep this up, they’ll be just fine in 2018.