If there are such things as bad omens in baseball, there can’t be many more distinct ones than the starting third baseman vomiting next to the pitcher’s mound two pitches into a Sunday matinee.
Lucius Fox’s Donovan McNabb impression ended his day just moments after Joan Adon’s first pitch, then Joc Pederson’s George Springer impression put the Giants ahead before Fox could even grab a ginger ale.
Pederson’s leadoff home run got the Giants (11-5) going and his second homer in the seventh inning gave SF breathing room. Brandon Crawford doubled and scored twice, Brandon Belt drove in a run with a triple, and Wilmer Flores recorded three RBI on three hits. Every Giants starter reached base, adding up to a 12-3 win and San Francisco’s second series sweep of the year.
Only Springer, Charlie Blackmon and Mookie Betts have more leadoff home runs than Pederson since 2015 after Sunday. Pederson’s 24th career leadoff bomb took a seat in the Nationals Park bleachers 441 feet from the plate.
It couldn’t have been a pleasant feeling for Adon, who delivered the pitch just feet away from Fox’s lunch.
Crawford, who made a minor tweak in his batting stance, socked his third double of the series soon after Pederson’s shot. He came around to score on a Wilmer Flores single.
San Francisco followed up its two-run first inning with two more in the second. Pederson showed some situational savvy with a sacrifice fly, then Belt drove a triple to straightaway center off the wall. His knees looked strong as he slid into third easily.
The Giants needed all four of those runs as Logan Webb scuffled for the second straight game. His pitch count ran up early as he struggled to command the strike zone. His sinker, just like it did in New York, sat around 92 mph instead of its normal mid-90s heat.
In the first, Webb got two quick outs but failed to escape the inning quietly. A walk and two singles put the Nationals on the board.
Webb ran into more two-out trouble in the third inning. This time, Keibert Ruiz barreled him up for a double. Then Yadiel Hernandez, a 34-year-old with 10 homers in 349 career plate appearances, did something hardly anyone does by taking Webb deep. Hernandez’s opposite-field, two-out bomb was the first home run Webb has allowed since Sept. 12 — 59.1 innings prior.
Webb, still pitching on a mild ankle sprain, persisted through 6.2 innings, and he also enjoyed another run from his offense in the fifth. That’s when Pederson knocked his second hit — a scorched double — and scored on another Flores RBI single.
Pederson wasn’t done there. In the seventh inning he pushed the Giants’ lead to 6-3 by crushing a 1-2 high fastball from Austin Voth into the same right-field bleachers as his first long ball. His hits left his bat at 111.0, 109.0 and 105.3 mph.
Trotting to first after his second home run, Pederson made the “Superman” gesture. He’s been a superhero so far for San Francisco, leading the team in home runs with five now — one off the MLB lead.
Pederson (3-for-3, 3 runs, 3 RBI), led off in place of Mike Yastrzemski, who tested positive for COVID-19. He could stick there long-term against right-handed starters; Pederson has a career .832 OPS as the leadoff man. He’s done damage this year regardless of spot in the order — entering Sunday, he had a team-best .317 average and a strong .349 on-base percentage.
Washington’s ninth-inning relievers unraveled, allowing San Francisco to bat around the order and tack on six more runs. The Giants finished with 15 hits, meaning they tallied double-digits knocks in each game of the Nationals series.
Heading to Milwaukee for a one-game pit stop, San Francisco has already secured a successful first road trip, winning seven of 10. The hits won’t come as easily against Brewers ace Corbin Burnes.