After holding the worst record in baseball for much of the second half, the Giants might be the league’s hottest team heading into the postseason.
San Francisco clinched a berth in the NL Wild Card game with their fourth straight victory on Sunday, beating down the rival Los Angeles Dodgers for the third game in a row, 7-1 at AT&T Park.
With the St. Louis Cardinals sweeping the Pittsburgh Pirates in their final series, the Giants had to do the same to avoid a one game playoff tomorrow evening at Busch Stadium. San Francisco made it look easy, blowing out the NL West champions in every game, outscoring the Dodgers 19-4 despite facing a pitching juggernaut of Rich Hill, Clayton Kershaw and Kenta Maeda.
It was the Giants who proved to have the superior starting pitching throughout the series, with lefty Matt Moore throwing a gem of his own in the finale. Bumgarner, Blach and Moore gave up just four combined runs in 23 and 1/3 innings.
Moore finished the game with a 1-2-3 inning in the eighth, striking out six and allowing just three hits.
The New York Mets lost to the Phillies on Saturday, finishing the 2016 season 87-75, the same record as San Francisco. The Mets hold the tiebreaker, winning the season series 4-3, meaning the Giants will head to Citi Field for a do-or-die wild-card clash against New York on Wednesday.
The Giants didn’t register a hit through the first four innings against Kershaw yesterday, but wasted no time with Sunday’s starter Kenta Maeda, tagging him for two runs before the right-hander recorded an out. Denard Span started things off with a leadoff single on the game’s second pitch. Brandon Belt followed with a double off the right field wall. Buster Posey then knocked both runners in, whacking the first pitch down the left-field line to give the Giants an early 2-0 advantage, as a light mist began to descend on AT&T Park.
The Giants entered Sunday batting .324 with runners in scoring position in their last seven games, and continued to rake in such situations on Sunday. Denard Span started a two out rally in the second inning, doubling the Giants lead with a two-run triple. Posey added one more, knocking in Belt with a single, his third RBI in two innings. The Giants took a 5-0 lead into the third.
If not for Eduardo Nunez’s all-world catch in San Diego, Conor Gillispie made what would have been the defensive play of the Giants season in the third inning, diving and flipping over the railing of the photographer’s well and into a camera to make a spectacular catch. Here’s Vin Scully, in his last game as a broadcaster, with the call:
Maeda was finally chased from the game with two outs in the third inning, when Corey Seager couldn’t get the ball out of his glove, allowing Matt Moore to reach on an infield single, loading the bases. It’s the first time in 13 starts that Maeda has given up more than three runs.
After scoring their first run in the fourth inning, Dodgers center-fielder Joc Pederson was a few feet away from making it a one-run ballgame, launching a shot to deep center. Denard Span made the catch right in front of the 399 feet marker to end the inning with minimal damage.
The Dodger bullpen held strong until the Giants battered Joe Blanton for four hits and two runs in the eighth. Hunter Pence and Brandon Crawford each contributed with RBI singles, their 57th and 84th of the year, respectively.
Sergio Romo gave up a leadoff single in the ninth inning, but buckled down to get his fourth consecutive save since being anointed the closer.
Noah Syndergaard (2.60 ERA) will make the start for New York on Wednesday, facing what will likely be Madison Bumgarner (2.74 ERA), though manager Bruce Bochy has yet to make an official announcement.