SF Giants return from break in sweeping fashion

When play around Major League Baseball opened up on July 5th, things were looking bleak for the San Francisco Giants.

Having lost seven of its past nine games, the Giants had fallen to 46-40 on the season after rattling off 15 wins out of 18 contests from June 6th through June 24th.

The final stretch of the first half brought San Francisco back to Earth as the Giants held a record of 47-40 heading into its last series before the All-Star break.

Here’s the thing about baseball: Feelings can change at the drop of a hat.

Concerns about San Francisco’s play have been alleviated following the Giants’ three-game sweep of the Pittsburgh Pirates, a series that was capped off by an 8-4 win in extra innings on Sunday.

With the win, San Francisco (52-41) pushed its winning streak to five games.

Fun times in the 10th 😛 pic.twitter.com/FCT8g00KnH

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 16, 2023

After allowing the Pirates to tie things up at 3-3 in the eighth inning, the Giants exploded for five runs during the top of the 10th, with two coming RBI coming off the bat of Patrick Bailey, who knocked a two-run double to blow things open.

San Francisco’s huge tenth inning would hold up to give the Giants another win, placing them just 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers after leap-frogging the Arizona Diamondbacks in the National League West standings.

Things are trending upward for SF, while Giants manager Gabe Kapler said he’s beginning to see shades of the historic 2021 team in this group.

“I think it speaks to the club’s resilience, which is something we’ve been talking about for several years here,” Giants manager Gabe Kapler said. “I think that’s still the true character of this team. I think it speaks to an unselfish, team-first mentality that was really the key to our season in 2021. You’re starting to see signals of that over the course of the last several months.”

Some Yaz for yinz pic.twitter.com/Qtztyd5BDx

— SFGiants (@SFGiants) July 16, 2023

San Francisco will look to keep its hot streak rolling on Monday when they open up a three-game set against one of baseball’s best stories in 2023, the Cincinnati Reds.

Rocklin native Logan Webb will take the ball for the Giants on Monday, seeking his ninth win of the season. Here’s how the pitching matchups will look in Cincinnati:

SF Giants vs. Reds Pitching Probables

Monday, July 17th – Logan Webb (8-7, 3.14 ERA) vs. Brandon Williamson (1-2, 5.21 ERA) – 4:10 PM PST

Tuesday, July 18th – Anthony DeSclafani (4-8, 4.44 ERA) vs. Luke Weaver  (2-2, 7.00 ERA) –  4:10 PM PST

Wednesday, July 19th – Ross Stripling (0-2, 6.11 ERA) vs. Graham Ashcraft (4-7, 5.95 ERA) – 4:10 PM PST

Thursday, July 20th – Alex Cobb (6-2, 2.82 ERA) vs. Andrew Abbott (4-2, 2.45 ERA) – 9:35 AM PST

Upcoming San Francisco Giants Schedule

• Monday, July 17th-Thursday, July 20th – @ Cincinnati Reds
• Friday, July 21st-Sunday, July 23rd – @ Washington Nationals
• Monday, July 24th – @ Detroit Tigers
• Tuesday, July 25th-Wednesday, July 26th – vs. Oakland Athletics
• Friday, July 28th -Sunday, July 30th – vs. Boston Red Sox

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