SF Giants still can't win on the road, but the latest trip wasn't a total loss

The SF Giants have the worst road record in baseball at 26-49 and haven't won a road series of at least three games since taking two out of three in San Diego back in late March during their second series of the season. In their latest road adventure, they went 3-4 in Atlanta, Pittsburgh, and New York. They continue to lose most of their games, but a lot of encouraging results have emerged from their latest road trip.

The offense looked as good as it has in a while. A few unexpected starters have made strong impressions. And Rafael Devers has been putting up impressive offensive numbers since his slow start.

Still, this team hasn't won a true road series in months and is on track to join the 1915 Giants as the only teams in franchise history to finish a season without completing a sweep of at least three games. The Giants technically swept the three-game series against the Braves by winning the first two games back in June and the make-up game that was rained out last week, but MLB treated them as two different series.

The offense wasn't the reason the Giants didn't get out of New York with a winning road trip. This inexperienced group of hitters, part of the second-youngest active roster in MLB with an average age just below 27 years, put up 43 runs over seven games, which is tied for the second-most in the majors during that stretch.

They went deep 12 times during the trip. Christian Koss, who's been playing excellent defense at shortstop since Willy Adames went down with an elbow injury, was responsible for two of them by recording his first career multi-homer game at Citi Field on Saturday. He entered the game with just four career homers. It hasn't been an easy season for Koss, so his manager is glad to see him succeed.

“Just happy for Koss because he’s a guy who deserves anything that comes his way,” Tony Vitello said.

But Koss wasn't the only one to send the ball over the fence multiple times. Rafael Devers also accomplished that feat for the 24th time in his career. Devers, after a very slow start to his season, has been red hot lately, to say the least. During the road trip, he recorded six homers and drove in 13 runs while batting .385 with a staggering 1.669 OPS. Many people were worried after he struggled out of the gate, including me. Seventy games into the season, he was batting .230 with a meager .694 OPS and just nine homers. Since then, over his past 74 games, he's homered 26 times and his OPS is up to 1.012. When asked what's been working during his prolonged hot stretch, Devers gave a Devers-like answer.

"Nothing in particular," he said. "I've been doing the same thing. We have bad times, good times, but we're here to improve ourselves."

Manager Tony Vitello has learned and found out a lot about his players during his first season as a big-league coach. But one of his most pleasant surprises this year has been the way Devers has led those young guys. He's been there to pick them up when they're down, give them directions during, before, and after games, or even use his experienced voice during hitters' meetings. Devers has embraced this leadership role, and the Giants needed it after their flurry of moves at the trade deadline and the injuries to key players like Matt Chapman, Willy Adames, or Casey Schmitt.

The SF Giants pitching has been the issue

For a team to play winning baseball, both sides of the ball need to be working at the same time. I'm not reinventing the wheel here. While the offense has been fine, it's been chaotic on the mound. The pitching staff surrendered 44 runs during the latest trip. Following their latest 4-2 loss to the Mets on Sunday, the Giants are now 17-73 when scoring four runs or fewer. In other words, too much weight rests on the offense's shoulders.

Cesar Perdomo, Matt Tugboat Wilkinson, Yunior Marte, and Anthony Molina all made at least one appearance during this trip. Three of those guys, Perdomo, Wilkinson, and Marte, made their big-league debuts this season with the Giants. A few days ago in Pittsburgh, Perdomo became the 15th Giant to make his MLB debut this season, which is tied with the Chicago White Sox for the most in MLB. Additionally, nine of the 28 players on the Giants' current active roster made their MLB debuts this season.

This Giants roster/rotation is as inexperienced as it gets. While Perdomo, Molina, and Marte have all fared well so far, Wilkinson got roughed up in his last start against the Mets, giving up seven runs in just three innings. And that's expected to happen again for any of those guys. What's less expected, though, is Logan Webb giving up a career-high nine runs and failing to pitch through the third inning for the second time in three starts. That's just baseball.

The month of September, though maybe not the most fun for fans, will allow manager Tony Vitello to sort through his options for next season. Is Matt Wilkinson really a starter or more of a lefty killer out of the bullpen? Can Molina, Perdomo, and Marte stay consistent and fill any kind of role next season? Can Devers and this offense build momentum for next year and get off to a better start?

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