After 5 losses, Samardzija gets first win in S.F. rout of Reds.
Suddenly revitalized club clobbers Reds to earn first three-game win streak of season
SAN FRANCISCO — Denard Span spent another afternoon flying around the bases. Eduardo Nuñez hovered parallel to the ground while making a diving catch in left field. Jeff Samardzija burned lasers into Buster Posey’s mitt. Brandon Belt sent one up, up and away.
You could understand if the Cincinnati Reds didn’t recognize the supercharged team that beat them in three of four games after swooping in to take an 8-3 victory on Sunday.
The Giants came home to the phone booth, whipped off their glasses and emerged with newfound powers. They took to an early lead Sunday and subdued a team that had schooled them just a week earlier in Cincinnati, when the Reds outscored them 31-5 while sweeping a three-game series.
“You look at what happened in Cincinnati and we got pummeled to the point it was embarrassing,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Then they win the first game here, a tight one. So to bounce back and win three in a row, to pitch well and execute, it’s a good bounce back against a club that has been very good against us.”
Nuñez contributed a two-
run single in a four-run first inning, Brandon Crawford added a two-run double in the second inning and Samardzija struck out eight in 62⁄3 innings as the Giants won their third consecutive game for the first time this season.
The Giants cannot simply hike up their tights and fly out of the deep pit they dug for themselves opening the season with a 12-24 record. They must climb out by methodically winning one series after another.
It has to begin with a single toehold. For the first time this season, the Giants appear to have one.
And the return of Crawford and Span transformed both the lineup and the defense in this series.
Span revitalized a leadoff spot that had been a black hole for the Giants this season. He went 9 for 21 with a double, a triple, two home runs and four runs scored. Entering the series, the Giants had scored a major league low of 11 runs from the leadoff spot.
Span played in just two rehab games for Single-A San Jose before returning from his sprained shoulder. He said he might have gotten his timing back quickly because even before he could swing, he would stand in as pitchers threw their side sessions.
He also faced pitcher Albert Suarez in live batting practice in Arizona while the Giants were slogging through their nine-game road trip.
“It wasn’t like I was Cancun or Cabo, or anything,” said Span, smiling.
Over the past few years, the Giants always had a starkly different record when Angel Pagan was or wasn’t in the lineup. Is there any doubt that their team, with the way they are designed to win games in their pitching-oriented ballpark, requires a productive hitter at the top of the order?
“Oh, no question,” said Bochy, asked about the difference that Span made in the series. “He’s the catalyst, the leadoff hitter, that every club needs or wants. … As they always say, you need to be strong up the middle, and when you’re missing your center fielder and shortstop, that makes it difficult.”
And after watching two weeks without Crawford, followed by four games with him, is there any doubt what kind of difference maker he is?
The Giants took advantage of a mistake and an ailing pitcher to bat around in the first inning. Span reached on a two-base error when Reds right fielder Scott Schebler dropped a fly ball. Joe Panik doubled Span home, and scored when Buster Posey singled past a drawn-in infield. After a pair of walks from Tim Adleman, Nuñez sprayed a two-run single through the left side.
Adleman consulted with trainers at one point in the inning and indicated that his neck was bothering him. He was able to record the third out, but did not return for the second inning.
The Giants seldom win without going to the cards, but for the first time in a month, they scored more than six runs in a game. Span tripled off Barrett Astin to start the second inning and Panik followed with a sacrifice fly. Belt walked, Posey was hit on the arm with a pitch and Crawford’s double brought them both home.
It was the first time since April 14 — a span of 27 games — that the Giants scored seven runs. And they did it by the second inning.
Belt added a solo shot, his third of the series, in the sixth inning. He leads the team with seven home runs this season; six solo blasts along with the grand slam he hit at San Diego in April.
Samardzija (1-5) had permission to heat up the strike zone, and although Scooter Gennett burned him for a two-run single in the fifth inning, the righthander did not beat himself. For the third consecutive start, he did not issue a walk.