Giants Find Their Groove Against Diamondbacks
PHOENIX — The Giants saw a shift in their fortunes during the bottom of the fifth inning on Wednesday night.
San Francisco batters had been consistently hitting the ball hard throughout the series against the Diamondbacks, yet they hadn’t seen much success. Wins were elusive.
“I hate to use the word luck,” manager Tony Vitello remarked, adding, “but the first two games felt a bit unfortunate.”
However, everything changed when Heriot Ramos belted a home run that soared over the park’s deepest wall. Not long after, Victor Bericoto followed with an impressive two-run hit.
Ramos’ home run flew 427 feet and clocked in at 110.4 mph off the bat, while Bericoto’s shot traveled 422 feet, reaching a speed of 162.7 mph.
Statcast notes that hard contact is anything over 95 mph, and the Giants achieved that 38 times during this series. Yet it wasn’t until they clinched a 6-4 victory to avoid a sweep that things finally clicked.
This marked the first time in nine attempts this season that the Giants triumphed over the Diamondbacks.
“I was really thinking about that, especially since we were 0-8 against them before this,” Trevor McDonald commented. “Losing to them again wasn’t an option.”
But complications arose when the Giants’ defense faltered in the bottom of the eighth inning.
Even though they were comfortably leading 6-0, a harmless leadoff single by Nolan Arenado started a chain reaction. He advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored from Pavin Smith’s single.
The situation escalated further when Christian Coss mishandled a grounder from Tommy Troy that should have led to a double play.
Interestingly, Koss had already committed errors in the first inning, but not on that particular play. However, his slipshod judgment ultimately allowed Arizona to score, narrowing San Francisco’s lead to 6-4.
Bericoto attempted to catch a double from Ketel Marte but couldn’t quite secure it, leading to confusion as the relay throw to third base fell short, allowing another run to cross the plate.
“It was a somewhat chaotic play,” Vitello said, labeling Koss’ flustered attempt at a double play as the “biggest” moment of the inning. “[Koss] was just trying to run fast.”
Koss made another questionable decision after Gabriel Moreno hit a single. He attempted to get Moreno back to first base, but the ball ended up in the Giants’ dugout, granting Moreno third base.
However, any further issues were quelled when Dylan Smith took over for Walker and struck out Lourdes Gurriel Jr. with a sharp slider.
Though they dropped the first two games of the series, the Giants limited their opponents to just six runs and six extra-base hits, and they maintained composure despite throwing eight more pitches than the Diamondbacks.
Before this series, the Giants ranked as one of the least effective hitting teams in terms of exit velocity, creating hard contact on only 37.5% of balls in play, which placed them 23rd out of 30 teams.
However, that number jumped to 41.3% during this series, which is a commendable fourth overall.
Hitting coach Hunter Mense attributed this surge to a new sense of “fearlessness” at the plate. He emphasized leading discussions in batters’ meetings and encouraged communication among the hitters.
“Eliminate the fear of striking out or missing out—whatever it is—and focus on how you attack,” Mense advised. “When you swing at a good pitch without hesitation, you’re more likely to hit it hard.”
“In those first two games, we definitely didn’t showcase our best.”
That newfound mindset had the team batting only .203 in losses, which was significantly lower than what their quality of contact suggested should be expected.
Still, securing a win against the Diamondbacks at last seemed to plant the seeds for improvement.
Ramos and Bericoto were pivotal, scoring twice against Zac Gallen. Lee Jung-hoo found success with two singles and notched a couple of runs, while Ramos launched a blistering triple into right field.
It appeared a pitching duel was unfolding between Gallen and Giants pitcher Trevor McDonald for four innings—but only one side delivered consistently.
The Diamondbacks have struggled to make effective contact for what seems like ages, and McDonald showcased his finest performance yet. He struck out five in six scoreless innings, didn’t walk anyone, and limited Arizona to just one hit—a notable single from Ketel Marte.
“That strategy seems to work well against them. Getting them swinging is key,” McDonald noted. “They aren’t known for walking much or racking up strikeouts. So, we just put the ball in play.”
What It Means
Looking ahead, the Giants have a solid opportunity to keep this hitting momentum going during their three-game series against the Rockies at Coors Field this summer.
Wednesday’s game was crucial, keeping them from becoming the first MLB team to lose their first nine games of a season to a single opponent since the Yankees managed to do that against the Red Sox in 2020.
Who Is Hot
McDonald was not particularly pleased with his record, being 0-6 with a 6.87 ERA over his last seven outings as the Giants struggled at 1-6 during that time.
However, he seemed to emerge as the pitcher he was at the start of the season when he went 2-0 with a 2.37 ERA.
Who Is Not?
The Giants’ top four batters combined for only two hits in 18 at-bats, failing to contribute to the six runs scored and notching only three instances of hard contact.
Two of those records belonged to Bryce Eldridge, whose 161.7 mph single broke through the right field in his fourth at-bat. Nonetheless, that marked his sixth hit in 43 attempts since his last home run.
This dry spell has come alongside a dip in his fastball and an uptick in off-speed pitches, while his average (.276) and OPS (.833) fell from earlier highs.
To The Next
The Giants will take a day off in Denver on Thursday before kicking off a three-game series against the Rockies on Friday. Willie Adames is expected to return to action then.
