Early rally helps SF Giants secure a 7-1 victory against the Nationals

On the heels of losing three of four games in a series against the New York Mets, the SF Giants responded with a convincing victory against the Washington Nationals on Friday. An early rally and strong pitching helped seal the deal.

Early rally helps SF Giants secure a 7-1 victory against the Nationals

The Giants got to deploy their right-handed-heavy lineup as they faced off against a lefty in Patrick Corbin. That lineup quickly proved to be too much for 32-year-old pitcher as he yielded seven earned runs across 1.2 frames.

The Giants tagged Corbin for all seven runs in a long second inning. Brandon Crawford and Joey Bart reached base via a double and a walk, respectively. Mike Yastrzemski drove in Crawford with a single to center field, giving the Giants a 1-0 lead.

The stage was set for a long inning as Austin Slater stepped to the plate with two runners on and he launched a Corbin offering over the right-field fence to give the Giants a 4-0 advantage. Slater has registered a 140 wRC+ against left-handed pitching since the start of 2020, so he has a pretty good track record of punishing southpaws.

The rally continued as the Giants loaded the bases for Crawford, who blasted his second double of the inning to clear the bases and complete the rally. Oddly enough, Mauricio Dubón recorded two of the three outs in that inning. He did make up for it by registering an outfield assist to nab Juan Soto at third base.

The Giants never looked back after the second inning. To the Nationals' credit, their bullpen did well to stop the bleeding as they completed 7.1 scoreless innings.

On the other hand, the Giants got stellar pitching from some unlikely sources. Sam Long was tabbed as the starter for today's game after Alex Cobb hit the injured list with an abductor strain.

However, Long has not been stretched out in terms of pitch count, so he was only able to complete two innings of work. He looked excellent as he flashed a four-seam fastball that sat in the mid 90's that he paired with a good curveball and a quality changeup.

With Cobb and Anthony DeSclafani on the injured list, Long could see a few extra innings of work. Prior to tonight's game, Jakob Junis was added to the 28-man roster and the Giants did not wait to see what he can do on the mound.

The right-handed hurler followed Long by completing five scoreless innings, allowing just three hits and recording five strikeouts. Junis attacked the strike zone effectively while relying primarily on his offspeed pitches to generate outs.

Junior Marte and Jarlín García each completed one inning apiece with the former allowing the only run of the game from the Giants' end. It was an uneventful game until the end when Brandon Crawford blooped a single over the shortstop with Thairo Estrada on first base.

Estrada attempted to score but Nationals shortstop Alcides Escobar made a good throw to the catcher to get Estrada out at home. This created some tension as Escobar and Estrada exchanged words. The Nationals were not happy that Estrada tried to score from first base with a six-run lead, whereas the Giants are intent on not taking their foot off of the brakes.

The unwritten rules are open to interpretation, so players and teams will respond differently to different situations. That said, it did not seem like Estrada's play stepped over the boundaries, but it, evidently, ruffled some feathers. This will add a little extra fuel to the remainder of the series, but the Giants secured the first win of the series.