MLB
Pederson Power: Giants Complete Sweep Of Nats Behind Joc’s Big Day
For seven seasons, Joc Pederson donned Los Angeles Dodger blue and acted as a thorn in the sides of the San Francisco Giants.
13 games into his Giants tenure, the Palo Alto native is making quite the first impression.
Pederson walloped two home runs and drove in three runs during a perfect three-for-three performance on Sunday as a red-hot San Francisco offense secured a three-game sweep of the Washington Nationals by a final of 12-3 at Nationals Park.
The Giants (11-5) have won four of their last five games as they have enjoyed their best 16-game start to a season since 2003.
San Francisco posted 12 runs on 15 hits during the winning effort on Sunday, as Pederson (three hits), Wilmer Flores (three hits), Brandon Belt (two hits), and Jason Vosler (two hits) all hit multi-hit games.
Pederson’s two-homer day raised his season total to five long-balls over his first 13 games of action, placing him in a tie for second place among Major League Baseball’s home run leaders.
Not only is Pederson finding the outfield seats, but he’s also hitting for contact as the 30-year-old is slashing .364/.383/.750 while having driven in eight runs. Along with success on batted balls, Pederson has had a selective eye during his start to the season, having struck out only eight times thus far while boasting a career-low 18.6% strikeout rate.
The Giants pitching staff continued to do a solid job over the weekend as San Francisco pitchers combined to post a 2.00 ERA during the three-game sweep.
Logan Webb picked up his second win of the season on Sunday after striking out six batters and surrendering three runs over 6.2 innings pitched.
Through 16 games, the San Francisco pitching staff holds the second-best ERA (2.51) in all of Major League Baseball and rank third in least runs allowed (40).
Next up for the Giants: a one-game stop in Milwaukee to face the Brewers on Monday afternoon to complete the lengthy road trip.
After the conclusion of the 12-game trip, San Francisco will face the crosstown rival Oakland Athletics on Tuesday night to kick off a 14-game stretch that will include 12 games at Oracle Park.
