San Francisco Giants Pitching Leading to Positive June

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 22: Chris Stratton #34 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the San Diego Padres in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on June 22, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
SAN FRANCISCO, CA - JUNE 22: Chris Stratton #34 of the San Francisco Giants pitches against the San Diego Padres in the top of the first inning at AT&T Park on June 22, 2018 in San Francisco, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)

The San Francisco Giants are finishing off the month of June strong, and a lot of it has to do with the great pitching they’ve gotten.

In the month of June, the San Francisco Giants have the second-best ERA in all of Major League Baseball with a 2.73 ERA.

Comparatively, on the entire season the Giants have the 15th best ERA in baseball at 4.03.

Some of that success can obviously be attributed to Madison Bumgarner who made his return from the disabled list to post a 3.20 ERA in four June starts. But others have stepped up as well.

In fact, Chris Stratton (2.48), Derek Holland (2.70), and Andrew Suarez (2.86) all have a better ERA in the month of June right now than Bumgarner.

Ty Blach has been virtually unhittable since moving the bullpen where he has a 0.55 ERA this month in 16.1 innings pitched. Will Smith (0.93) and Mark Melancon (2.89) have been great out of the pen as well.

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Certainly adding someone like Bumgarner can help boost the morale of others on the team. That certainly seems to be the case as other starters have elevated their game as well.

Even Dereck Rodriguez has pitched well at times this month with a 3.95 ERA in five June starts.

I don’t expect this numbers to continue for all of these guys the rest of the way. However, I do expect to see our starters be more competitive on a consistent basis.

And not to be a downer, but the Giants haven’t exactly faced the best competition in the month of June.

The pitching staff has given up three runs or less in 16-of-24 games this month. They are 12-4 in those games.

This has obviously been a good sign for the Giants, and one I hope continues into a pivotal month of July.

If the Giants continue to get this kind of pitching, they’ll be in the thick of the NL West race the rest of the way.

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