DENVER — As if Brandon Belt’s age 33 season couldn’t get any more unbelievable, he personally put the Giants on top of the franchise record books Saturday in Denver.
Two days after posing in front of the team plane dressed as The Captain — the nickname he bestowed upon himself weeks ago in Chicago — Belt blasted home runs 28 and 29 on the season, the first tying the franchise record for team homers in a season and the second putting this 2021 club over the top.
Both home runs came in hitter’s counts, and both put the Giants ahead. Belt’s career-high for home runs in a season before this year was 18. He’s clubbed 18 since the All-Star break.
Belt has become the most powerful batter on the most powerful Giants (101-54) team in franchise history. Friday, he commandeered SF to a 7-2 victory with his eighth career multi-HR game and third of the season. The Los Angeles Dodgers also lost in Arizona, bringing SF’s magic number down to seven and its division lead to two games.
To put the Giants up 1-0, Belt displayed patience in the batter’s box. Rockies starter Jon Gray started him with a curveball high out of the zone, then a changeup way outside for ball two. Belt took a slider high and away. He didn’t swing until Gray gave him a fastball, which Gray served to him in the middle of the plate.
Belt smashed it 425 feet to the right field stands. Entering Saturday, 14 of Belt’s 27 homers have come off fastballs, though his .341 average versus offspeed pitches is his best mark.
The Rockies responded to Belt’s home run — a franchise record-tying 235th of the season — by stringing together two singles and an RBI groundout. Then Ryan McMahon piled on a double into the left-center gap to score another run.
The Rockies’ first two singles, from Brendan Rodgers and Charlie Blackmon, were both hit under 90 mph off the bat. But they found grass, and Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani struggled to get ahead in counts and miss bats.
DeSclafani needed 33 pitches to get out of the first inning. And though he got through the next three scoreless, his pitch count rose and rose as he fell behind hitters. He exited after the fourth inning at 77 pitches (47 strikes), with five hits allowed, two earned runs, a walk and three strikeouts.
The outing represented a step in the wrong direction for the righty, who had thrown two previous quality starts prior to Saturday. Each starter this turn of the rotation — Kevin Gausman, Scott Kazmir, Logan Webb, Alex Wood and now DeSclafani — only lasted four innings. The taxed bullpen that thought it was getting reprieve with Wood’s return and Kazmir’s spot-start was instead put to more work in San Diego and Denver.
Thankfully for the Giants, The Captain was still at the wheel. After each team swapped three scoreless innings, Belt hammered his second of the night, this one cutting even higher through the altitude than the first.
After Steven Duggar lined a single into shallow center and Donovan Solano took first on a hit-by-pitch, Belt stepped in. Again he got into a favorable count, but this time he connected on a 2-1 slider, pulling it 421 feet on a 41-degree launch angle.
The three-run homer turned the Giants’ 2-1 deficit into a 4-2 lead. It continued to make SF’s record after scoring first — a MLB-best 72-14 heading into Saturday — look prophetic.
And despite DeSclafani’s short start that put more stress on an already taxed bullpen, SF’s relievers shut out the Rockies scoreless the rest of the way. To start the final Coors Field series of the year, the Giants have kept the Rockies completely in the ballpark in 18 innings, continuing the trend of elite home run hitting and suppression.
Steven Duggar and Mike Yastrzemski added to SF’s lead, which came in handy during Dominic Leone’s shaky ninth inning, but it was Belt who drove in four of the Giants’ seven runs with two swings.
Belt has displayed elite power all year. He’s not the only one; 11 Giants have matched or set career-highs in 2021, with several doubling their previous bests. But Belt has been on a different level, among the best power hitters in baseball.
Belt has attributed his career year to more experience, the coaching staff empowering him to take aggressive approaches at the plate, and the heightened confidence that comes with both.
Some consider giving yourself a nickname a cardinal sin. But Belt has earned the title in every way. Including the two-run shot he hit with the “C” taped to his chest, Belt has hit eight homers in 14 games since becoming The Captain.
His teammates love it, too, calling the dress-up day hysterical. SF manager Gabe Kapler said he thinks it’s a great way for his team to blow off steam during an intense division race. The manager has even joked about letting Belt into the private plane cockpit.
“I’ve been talking a lot about Brandon’s leadership style as The Captain,” Kapler quipped recently. “He’s not a micromanager. He’s going to let his team do what’s best for them. He’s going to be communicative. As long as it’s what Brandon wants. He’s going to let them do whatever they want as long as it’s what Brandon wants. He’s been very clear about how he’s going to captain the ship.”
Against the Rockies, it was clear as the cloudless Denver sky: Belt led with his bat.