20 wins!

SF 4  AZ 2

Johnny Cueto had to work hard this afternoon, throwing 109 pitches to 26 batters to get through 5-2/3 innings. He gave up two runs right away in the top of the 1st but kept the Arizona hitters off the board into the 6th. He left with the bases loaded but Caleb Baragar got the final out. The Giants got two in the bottom half of the 6th on a homer by Donovan Solano to take the lead and the bullpen did the rest. Jarlin Garcia loaded the bases in the 7th but struck out two to escape unscathed. Tony Watson (8th) and Tyler Rogers (9th) each struck out two in their brisk, dominant frames to finish off the Diamondbacks. Chadwick Tromp hit a solo shot in the 3rd but otherwise lefty Alex Young frustrated the Giants until Solano's big hit. Brandon Belt, pinch-hitting for Tromp in the 7th, added a solo shot off Yoan Lopez to make it 4-2 and that's how it finished.

The Giants get their 20th victory in their 41st game with some excellent defense, timely bombs, and superb relief work. Cueto deserves a nod for his veteran savvy clutchness, getting some big strikeouts (he had seven overall) against a patient lineup, and keeping the lid on things when it seemed ready to fly off.

Kevin Gausman takes the hill tomorrow against Zac Gallen at 5:05 p.m. PDT.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.

Giants Win Slugfest

 SF 10  LA 8  (11)

The San Francisco Giants have four wins against the Los Angeles Dodgers, a team that has lost only nine games. Last night the 3-4-5 hitters, Evan Longoria, Brandon Belt, and Donovan Solano, went 9-16 with 7 runs scored and 8 RBI while the rest of the lineup went 5-for-30 (three by Brandon Crawford) with 11 whiffs. The team was 3-for-22 with runners in scoring position! It was a crazy game: Giants used nine relievers after Johnny Cueto went four innings and overall the ten pitchers threw 199 pitches (122 strikes)!

It was more like a heavyweight boxing match with the Giants as the upstart contender and the Dodgers as the veteran champion. In fact, last night was merely the opening rounds of what promises to be a great three-game fight. In the opening frame, Max Muncy blasted a 3-run homer on a 3-0 pitch (I wonder if pitchers will stop grooving 3-0 pitches now that batters swing at them) but the Giants counter-punched with a 3-run homer of their own in the bottom half. That was the first of two for Brandon Belt, the other was a solo shot off Kenley Jansen that tied the game in the 9th! The Giants trailed in the 9th, 10th, and 11th but still won the game. Donovan Solano had just one hit but it was the game-winning two-run homer, only his second home run of the season.

Seven wins is a row. Kevin Gausman and Clayton Kershaw tonight at 6:45 p.m. PDT.

GO GIANTS!

--M.C.