MILWAUKEE – After a disappointing start to the season, the Giants finally seem to be hitting their stride.
With a 15-1 win over the Brewers on Friday night, the Giants (26-25) picked up their ninth win in 11 games and moved above .500 for the first time in 2023.
San Francisco’s lineup had 19 hits, including a trio of homers by Mitch Haninger, Brett Wise and JD Davis. Haninger’s two-run homer off Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta — his first homer for the Giants outside of Mexico City — highlighted a three-run second, while Wesley’s three-run blast capped the game with a seven-run blast. In the third.
“There were obviously a lot of good swings,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “Nice at-bats up and down the lineup. Some at-bats that didn’t end well, some at-bats and run-of-the-mill at-bats. I thought our guys did a good job top to bottom.”
The Brewers — already reeling from the loss of shortstop Willie Adams, who was hit by a drilled ball in the bottom of the second and hospitalized — never recovered, scoring just one run in three innings in 5 2/3 innings. innings against left fielder Alex Wood.
Wood has yet to complete five innings through the first six games this year, but he provided the Giants with some much-needed length on Friday, throwing 93 pitches and striking out five in his longest start of the season. Tristan Beck took care of the rest, firing 3 1/3 scoreless innings to give his teammates a break following the club’s bullpen on Thursday.
San Francisco’s pitching staff has not allowed more than four runs in 12 consecutive games, the longest streak in the majors.
“The guys scored a lot of runs for me,” Wood smiled. “They wanted to see me get that sixth inning today. That was good. I can’t get over that when they scored a lot of runs in the third. It was great. Anytime you get that support, it’s great. I’ve had that in every start.” We hope they continue to do so.
The Giants stumbled out of the gate this season, going just 6-13 in their first 19 games, but have turned that around by going 20-12 in 32 games since April 22.
Several factors have been the key to their recent progress, including a breakout performance from the bullpen (0.88 ERA over the last 11 games), a hot streak from Michael Conforto (.368 batting average with seven homers and 16 RBIs over the last 15 games) and consistent starters like Casey Schmidt, Patrick Bailey and Wesley. Coming in, he went 8-for-15 with seven RBI in the bottom-third of the lineup on Friday.
Although they still have work to do in the National League West, even though they sit in third place behind the Dodgers (31-21) and the D-backs, all the positive developments add up to the Giants’ first winning record. 29-21).
“It’s good to finally get over that hump,” Wood said. “We took it one day at a time. We feel like we have pieces on both sides of the ball. … It’s good to see and hear our brand of baseball being played. We’re hitting it, the bullpen has been great the last two weeks, guys are contributing. We have to keep rolling. Hopefully we’re starting to hit the ground running. This is what we expect to see as we move forward day by day.
Like Conforto, Haninger has endured a slow start after missing the first three weeks of the season with an unusual strain, but is starting to show signs of coming out of his long streak. The 32-year-old veteran entered Friday batting .193 with a .521 OPS over 24 games, but collected three hits and knocked in a season-high four runs against the Brewers, showing the type of production the Giants had in mind when signing him. Sign him to a three-year, $43.5 million deal in the offseason.
Haninger said he’s mainly working on smoothing things out with his load and staying in his feet, which he hopes will help him develop a better rhythm at the plate.
“It’s all about making adjustments,” Haninger said. “It’s not the first month I thought I’d start the year. I definitely want to produce more and pass more. At the end of the day, I have to work hard and make adjustments. It comes around. For me, I will always have my full career. They go through ups and downs. Now you have to learn from it and make adjustments.
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