October 6, 2024

SF Giants’ power surge continues against Rockies to collect first sweep since July

Giants #Giants

SAN FRANCISCO — Gabe Kapler said he began to see signs of life from the Giants’ comatose offense even before their get-right weekend set against the Rockies.

Sure, Colorado, with the worst pitching staff in the majors by ERA and the third-worst record, presented a golden opportunity to score some runs and bank some wins. But the biggest reason for optimism, Kapler said, was that his lineup was nearly back to full strength.

Back from a two-and-a-half-month stint on the injured list, Mitch Haniger provided some solid evidence over the weekend.

Haniger launched his second homer of the series, one of three the Giants got as their sudden power surge continued Sunday in a 6-3 win to complete a sweep of the National League West’s last-place team. Beating up on the Rockies at this point is routine, their 16th win in their past 17 tries, but a sweep? It was the Giants’ first in a series of at least three games since their first one out of the All-Star break, July 14-17 at Pittsburgh.

Good news: the Giants play them four more times over the next seven days, with three against the sub.-500 Guardians in between.

Even better: Michael Conforto could be activated as soon as Monday, giving the Giants the outfield they envisioned when they signed him and Haniger this offseason.

After missing out on Aaron Judge and reneging on their deal with Carlos Correa, the Giants committed $79.5 million to the pair of free-agent outfielders to add, they hoped, an everyday presence to the middle of their order. It hasn’t played out that way, though. They have appeared in the same lineup in only 32 of the Giants’ 143 games this season.

For Haniger, a Bay Area native who maintains an offseason home in Aptos, it took until Friday night to hit his first home run at Oracle Park, where he once watched Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent and Rich Aurilia do the same. It was so sweet, apparently, that barely 48 hours later, he did it again.

After LaMonte Wade Jr.’s second hit of the game in the third inning, Haniger turned on an inside fastball from Rockies starter Peter Lambert and brought him home. The two-run shot to left got out in a hurry, clocked at 108.4 mph off the bat, and gave the Giants a 5-3 lead they wouldn’t relinquish.

Thairo Estrada evened the score with a solo blast to lead off the inning, and Joc Pederson provided an insurance run in the fifth with a towering homer to the concourse in right field. They homered eight times, including two apiece from Haniger and Estrada, while scoring 24 runs over the three-game sweep.

Estrada’s homer was his second in as many games and followed a triple in his first at-bat as part of a two-hit night. The Giants’ most valuable position player when he was sidelined by a broken hand, he has hit safely in 23 of the 31 games he’s played since returning on Aug. 5 from the monthlong absence.

Adding a single in his fourth and final at-bat, Pederson finished with his fifth multi-hit game in 15 contests since Aug. 21. The homer, his 13th of the season, was his second in that span, with a .990 OPS.

The Giants avoided another injury scare in the second inning, when Rockies first baseman Elehuris Montero lined a 108.4 mph line drive off the inside of Keaton Winn’s left leg. Winn, who was rewarded with his third career start after following Alex Cobb last Sunday with five shutout innings against the Padres, doubled over onto the grass behind the pitcher’s mound, drawing Kapler and trainer Dave Groeschner out of the dugout, but remained in the game.

Montero was one of three runners to score as the Rockies opened a 3-0 lead in the second inning, but Winn rebounded to retire 14 of the final 17 batters he faced. Mixing a fastball that topped out at 99.1 mph, the fastest pitch of the game, with his signature splitter, Winn completed six innings while striking out nine without issuing a walk.

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