SAN FRANCISCO — The 90th birthday celebration for Willie Mays isn’t the only reason things are feeling nostalgic at Oracle Park.
Franchise mainstays Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt hit home runs and Kevin Gausman continued his dominance against the San Diego Padres Saturday in a 7-1 win by the Giants before a crowd of 9,764.
Now 20-13, the Giants have a 2 1/2 game lead on the Padres in the National League West, with the struggling Dodgers hovering near .500.
Crawford hit a three-run home run, his seventh, in the second inning against Padres starter and loser Joe Musgrove (2-4). Belt’s solo shot in the fifth, also against Musgrove, was also his seventh.
Combined with eight homers from Buster Posey, who had the day off, the Giants have 22 home runs from three players who combined for seven World Series rings between 2010 and 2014 and were thought to possibly be on their way out in the new regime of president Farhan Zaidi and manager Gabe Kapler.
Austin Slater hit his second home run in two nights for the Giants to add two insurance runs in the eighth inning.
Gausman’s latest domination of the Padres: six innings, three hits, one run, no earned runs, one walk and seven strikeouts. In three games against San Diego, Gausman (3-0) has pitched 19 innings, giving up 14 hits, three runs, two earned with three walks and 18 strikeouts.
Zack Littell pitched a scoreless seventh, Tyler Rogers worked out of a two-on jam in the eighth in his 19th appearance, and Caleb Baragar finished it off in the ninth for the Giants.
It was the fifth win in eight games for the Giants against the Padres, with a series sweep on the line Sunday as starting pitcher Johnny Cueto returns for his first game since leaving with a lat injury on April 14.
The teams won’t meet again until September, by which time it should be determined whether the Giants are a contender or a mirage.
In the bottom of the sixth, Slater, who homered to the opposite field Friday night, hit a two-out run-scoring single against reliever Tim Hill to put the Giants up 5-1.
The Giants answered immediately to the Padres’ breaking through with a run in the top of the fifth, with Belt hitting a 2-2 two-out pitch into the arcade in right center to for a 4-1 lead.
The Padres broke through with an unearned run off Gausman in the fifth, with Austin Nola’s grounder to short bringing home Jake Cronenworth from third base.
Cronenworth hit a one-out single, and was followed by Tommy Pham. Cronenworth took off for second base as Gausman was throwing a 3-2 pitch to Pham, which went for ball four. Catcher Curt Casalli, who couldn’t wait for the call, threw to second to get Cronenworth but the ball sailed into center field for an error, sending Cronenworth to third.
Pham advanced to second on a wild pitch and then Nola’s groundout brought in the lone run. The Padres opted to allow Musgrove to hit with a runner on third and two outs, and Gausman retired him on a soft grounder to third.
Crawford, who came in hitting .357 (10 for 28) with three home runs in his previous 11 games, hit the first pitch he saw from Musgrove in the second inning for a three-run home run to jump-start the Giants.
Belt opened the inning with a sharp grounder to deep second that Cronenworth couldn’t handle (It was initially ruled an error but changed to a hit). Evan Longoria, who has been making a living hitting to right field of late, sliced a double into the right field corner, sending Belt to third.
Crawford then turned on a 91-mph cutter from Musgrove and sent it into the seats in left center for a 3-0 Giants lead.
