SAN FRANCISCO — All of a sudden, the Giants are back on a winning streak. It happened in flash — er, a splash.
The Giants used a pair of home runs — including a tie-breaking shot into McCovey Cove from Mike Yastrzemski — to back up a solid spot start from Jakob Junis and win their second straight game over the St. Louis Cardinals, 4-3, enough to earn a split in the four-game series with a team expected to contend for the NL Central.
Following a five-game losing skid during which the Giants scored 10 total runs, they have responded with 17 runs — and two wins — the past two days. Their fourth and final run Sunday came in the sixth inning off the bat of Yastrzemski, who drove in two, and splashed down beyond the right field wall to give the Giants a 4-3 lead.
“It sort of seems like the last couple of days, we’ve been more like ourselves,” manager Gabe Kapler said. ”
Making his first start with the Giants, Junis limited the Cardinals to two runs on three hits and struck out five over five innings.
Juan Yepez’s two-run home run in the second inning amounted to the only damage St. Louis did off Junis and were the first runs he has allowed all season, snapping an 11-inning scoreless streak.
Junis, a free-agent acquisition this offseason who previously pitched two five-inning outings of relief without allowing a run, has a 1.20 ERA in 15 innings, the lowest mark of anybody on staff with at least 10 innings.
“His slider’s nasty,” Kapler said. “Right now we’re not seeing Jake as a spot starter. We see him as a member of our rotation.”
St. Louis plated its third run in the sixth off reliever Dominic Leone, briefly tying the game at 3, after Luis Gonzalez misplayed a fly ball in left field that turned into a ground-rule double, allowing Juan Yepez to reach third, then score on a groundball out the next play.
But Yastrzemski responded in the bottom half of the inning with a splash hit that would prove decisive.
With seven hits and seven walks — four issued by erratic St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson — the Giants put runners in scoring position with fewer than two outs four times but failed to score in any inning that didn’t feature a home run. Until Joc Pederson whiffed in the Giants’ final at-bat of the game, they were on their way to becoming the first MLB team since 2017 to finish a game without striking out once.
“The at-bat quality was excellent up and down the lineup,” Kapler said. “Obviously Yaz and LaMonte Wade had the big hits, but there was plenty of grindy at-bats around them, supporting them.”
All but one of the Giants’ runs came on the long ball.
Wade’s two-run shot in the second inning tied it at 2 and was his first home run of the season after spending the first 25 games on the injured list (left knee). Aided by the blustery conditions, Wade’s ball traveled 436 feet, the second-longest home run by a Giants player this season, but leaving the bat at 107 mph, it needed no help leaving the yard.
Yastrzemski’s go-ahead homer splashed into water of McCovey Cove, his second home run this season and fifth career splash hit, increasing the counter in right field to 93 by Giants players. On their way to leading MLB in home runs last season, the Giants also splashed down more times than any other year since Oracle Park opened.
It’s no coincidence that as their offense has awakened, with 17 runs in their final two games against the Cardinals, it has come on the strength of the long ball, with two more Sunday following a trio of dingers on Saturday.
“When Yaz’s swing is on point … he can elevate the ball to the pull side with the best of them,” Kapler said, calling Yastrzemski’s at-bats so far this season “very close to being Yaz circa 2020.”
“Nice to see LaMonte elevate today, as well,” Kapler continued. “A huge boost to our offense and a huge boost to our dugout. … Some combination of walks and home runs usually leads to success for us.”
Up next, the Giants play host to the team that features MLB’s home run leader, with C.J. Cron and the Colorado Rockies arriving for a three-game series that starts Monday. It will also mark the return of Kris Bryant, who departed in free agency and has gotten off to a cold start this season.
San Francisco will have its marquee free-agent acquisition, Carlos Rodón (3-1, 1.55), on the hill.
