SAN FRANCISCO — Whether it be wins or hits, the Giants have struggled lately to string together anything but losses. But perhaps the tides are starting to turn.
Earlier this week, the Giants won consecutive games for the first time in nearly a month. And though they weren’t able to make it three in a row Monday night to open the home stand, on Tuesday, the offense erupted for the second time in the past three games to rout the D-backs 13-0.
The Giants got a quartet of home runs — three in the first three innings — from Yermín Mercedes, Joey Bart and Thairo Estrada to back up six shutout innings from Logan Webb. By the end of the third, San Francisco led 8-0, and Estrada added on in the seventh with his second shot of the night to make it 10-0.
Opponents have scratched four runs off Giants starters in the past four games. Webb followed up strong starts by Carlos Rodón (9 IP, 1 ER), Alex Wood (7 IP, 0 ER) and Alex Cobb (6 IP, 3 ER). All last season, when the rotation posted the second-best ERA in MLB, the group of starters talked about how one strong start can be infectious.
Could the same be said for the offense?
Four has acted as a bit of a magic number for the Giants this season. As in: they’re 37-9 when scoring at least that many and equally as bad — 7-33 — when scoring fewer. Yet, it has been almost a month since they scored four or more in consecutive games.
Their 28 runs over the past three games — 22 between Tuesday’s outburst and their 12-0 win Sunday in San Diego — amounted to their best three-game stretch of hitting this season. Before this month, they had nine stretches of at least two straight games with four or more runs, but they haven’t put one together since June 13-14 against Kansas City.
They’ve done it with lineups that didn’t feature Brandon Crawford, Brandon Belt, Joc Pederson or Evan Longoria.
Before any hitter left the yard Tuesday night, rookie David Villar provided a highlight with a Little League-style home run. Although it went down in the scorebook as a triple, Villar touched all four bases after he hit a line drive to right in the first inning. Arizona right fielder Jake McCarthy fell over and Villar raced for third as the ball rolled to the wall. As he dove for the bag, second baseman Sergio Alcantara’s throw sailed into the Giants’ dugout, awarding Villar home.
The play capped a four-run first inning that also featured the first of three hits from Mercedes, who tied with Austin Slater (3-for-5) for a game-high.
Mercedes got his first home run with the Giants — and his first big-league bomb since last May — on a two-run shot down the left-field line in the second. It came only a few batters after Bart launched his fifth of the season — his first since returning from a monthlong stint at Triple-A with a reworked swing.
Estrada launched his first home run to lead off the fourth, the last damage the Giants would do against Arizona starter Dallas Keuchel, a former Cy Young winner who was tagged for eight runs (seven earned) in 3⅓ innings. He got his second in seventh, securing his second career multi-homer game.
For Webb, it should have felt nice just to get enough offense to win. Despite holding a 2.45 ERA over his past eight starts, the Giants’ win Tuesday was just their third in that span. Over his past six, Webb owns a 1.13 mark.
With six shutout innings Tuesday, Webb lowered his season ERA to 2.82.
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