The Giants owed Jeff Samardzija.
The right-hander entered Sunday with a 3-9 record on the mound, although he’s been pitching much better throughout the season than that record shows.
Walking off the field after the sixth inning, Samardzija had put together another solid start, but the Giants trailed 2-0 to the Pirates. It looked to be another buzzkill loss for Samardzija, until the Giants bats caught fire. The offense that had just mustered two hits in the first six innings came alive in the top of the seventh, scoring three times to give the Giants a lead they would not relinquish in a gutsy 5-3 win at PNC Park.
Through six innings, the only offense from either side came off the bat of the Pirates’ Jordy Mercer, who took Samardzija deep for a two-run shot in the bottom of the fourth inning. It was the only mistake on the day for Samardzija, who went six innings while giving up two runs on six hits along with five strikeouts.
Pittsburgh’s Trevor Williams was even better early on. A Brandon Belt push bunt and Jae-gyun Hwang single was all the offense for the Giants in their first six trips to the plate.
Williams went back out for the top of the seventh, but was removed following a leadoff walk to Hunter Pence and a double to Buster Posey. Tony Watson relieved Williams, and immediately gave up a hit to Brandon Belt to cut the deficit to 2-1. Brandon Crawford tied the game up at 2, bringing in Posey with a base knock through the left side.
Hwang reached first base on a replay review to load the bases. Kelby Tomlinson pinch hit for Samardzija and gave the Giants a 3-2 lead with a sacrifice fly to deep center field. With the three runs in the seventh, the Giants put Samardzija in line for the win.
Belt added some cushion in the bottom of the eighth inning with a towering two-run shot into the right field bleachers to give the Giants a 5-2 lead. Belt had a nice afternoon, going 3-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs.
John Jaso hit a solo home-run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 5-3, but that was the last of the scoring for the Pirates.
Sam Dyson – filling in as closer for the injured Mark Melancon – shut the door in the bottom of the ninth. It’s the sixth straight win of the season for the Giants, a much needed streak for a team that still sits at the bottom of the NL West with a 33-51 record.
The Giants defense was making highlight plays all over the field behind Samardzija and the bullpen. Pence made a diving play in right-center field to save a run in the bottom of the third. Panik handled a hard grounder in the fourth and Hwang made a sliding catch in foul territory in the sixth.
The eighth inning saw Austin Slater with a diving catch that rivaled Pence’s, and an over the shoulder catch from Belt in shallow right field.
These Giants over the past week are not the same team that has found just about every way to lose a game through the first half of the 2017 campaign. After the Giants took the lead, Cory Gearrin delivered a much needed shutdown inning in the bottom half of the seventh.
Solid pitching. Shutdown bullpen. Great defense. Timely hitting. Late inning magic.
The formula that has resulted in three world championships this decade has been reignited over the past week. Time will tell if this win streak is just an outlier or the beginning of a second half turnaround for the orange and black.