SAN FRANCISCO — In a positive development for the Giants postseason hopes, Jakob Junis returned to form Tuesday night against the Diamondbacks. A not-so-good development saw the Giants fail to crack their Kryptonite this season that has taken the form of Arizona right-hander Merrill Kelly.
The best development, though, waited until the end.
After being blanked for eight innings and two outs into the ninth, Brandon Crawford sent a walk-off home run over the center field wall to beat the D-backs, 2-1, and extend their winning streak to five games.
The Giants were down to their final strike against Arizona closer Ian Kennedy, but Thairo Estrada extended the game by tripling off the arcade in right field — nearly reprising his role as Sunday’s walk-off hero — to set up Crawford’s walk-off shot.
The Giants, who were without a walk-off home run since 2019, have hit three in the past month, including two in the past three days. Crawford’s homer — his first since June 3 — followed Estrada’s walk-off shot to beat the Pirates on Sunday.
“There’s always a chance,” Estrada said, smiling, through Spanish-language translator Erwin Higueros.
With San Diego’s loss in Miami, the Giants picked up a game in the wild card race but remain 4.5 games out of playoff position with 46 to play.
In his best start since returning from a strained hamstring, Junis limited Arizona to one run over seven innings.
Junis pumped his fist as Seth Beer swung through a 1-2 changeup for the final out of the seventh inning.
The pitch was the 101st and final Junis threw in his longest outing in a San Francisco uniform, the 16th swing-and-miss he generated and finished off his seventh strikeout victim.
After struggling for his first four starts since coming off the injured list to rediscover the slider that led to his first-half success, Junis had full control of all three pitches in his arsenal Tuesday night.
Junis hadn’t completed five innings since being activated just before the All-Star break while posting a 7.16 ERA. In seven innings on Tuesday, he resembled the pitcher who posted a 2.63 ERA prior to the injury — possibly even better.
The 16 bats Junis missed were six more than he had in any previous start, and his seven strikeouts were one shy of matching a season-high. The 101 pitches he used to complete seven innings both also marked season-highs, good signals that Junis is at or near full health.
Junis used his signature slider to record 11 of those 16 swings and misses and to finish off six of his seven strikeouts but left one hanging, and that’s the pitch Walker sent over the left-field wall.
The D-backs’ lone damage off Junis — Walker’s fourth inning solo shot — was nearly enough with Kelly on the bump.
In four starts against San Francisco this season, Kelly has allowed four runs over 28⅓ innings, a 1.27 ERA. After blanking the Giants for eight innings in their last meeting, Kelly didn’t allow a run over seven shutout innings on Tuesday.
The Giants’ best chances at cracking Kelly came in his first and final frames. Joc Pederson was left stranded on second after lining a double the other way to lead off the bottom of the first, while Evan Longoria made it 90 feet further — to third — after lacing a double to lead off the seventh but was also left on base after a sac bunt and two fly outs.
Joey Bart, at least, found some success against Kelly with a fifth-inning single that extended his hitting streak to a career-best eight games. However, with Longoria on third and two outs in the seventh, Bart flew out to end the threat.
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