WASHINGTON — There was a familiar face standing 60 feet, 6 inches away Saturday afternoon at Nationals Park, and it showed, as the Giants followed up their seven-run explosion with another strong offensive showing in a 5-2 win.
It was Aaron Sanchez, whom the Giants know well from the seven starts he made for them last season, and he didn’t exactly inspire any feelings of regret over San Francisco’s decision to designate him for assignment last August.
For the second straight day, the Giants brought at least nine men to the plate in an inning, this time scoring four runs in the fifth inning that knocked Sanchez from the game. Although it didn’t quite match their seven-run second inning from Friday, it was more than enough to earn the win behind five solid innings from Alex Wood and another shutdown showing from their bullpen.
By the time Curt Casali’s RBI single chased Sanchez from the game with one out in the fifth, the Giants had manufactured three runs with an RBI single from Brandon Crawford in the first inning and hits by Wilmer Flores and Thairo Estrada to lead off the fifth. Flores, Estrada, Casali and Austin Slater all came around to score in the four-run fifth inning, with Joc Pederson doing the last of the damage with an RBI single to knock in Slater.
Crawford’s RBI single was his fourth hit in his past six at-bats and gave him his seventh run driven in over his past six games. With eight RBIs now this season, he is tied with Brandon Belt for second on the team behind Thairo Estrada (9). Crawford was hitting.167 after the first eight games of the season but has raised his average to .245.
With two more hits Saturday, Pederson raised his average to .317, the best mark of any Giants regular, to pair with his three home runs.
The Giants’ offensive outburst to start their series with the Nationals goes down as the best two games they’ve strung together at the plate this season. They scored seven runs on 12 hits Friday night, then followed it up with five runs on 10 hits, their first time this season scoring more than four runs or recording double-digit hits in back-to-back games.
They were aided Saturday by an extensive scouting report on Sanchez, who made nine appearances for them last season.
Although Sanchez posted a respectable 3.06 ERA for the Giants, the peripherals didn’t back up his success, with 15 walks in 35 1/3 innings and a FIP (fielding independent pitching) almost a full point higher than his ERA.
Sanchez started last year in the Giants rotation, but they cut ties after a three-inning start against Milwaukee on Aug. 7. Sanchez didn’t latch on anywhere else, until he inked a minor league deal with Washington before this season. Saturday marked his Nationals debut — and first major league outing since his final start with the Giants — after he was called up to make the spot start for a rotation in dire shape. (Friday’s starter, Patrick Corbin, allowed seven runs, and Sunday’s starter is still TBD, just as Saturday’s was until just before game time.)
The Nationals’ pitching staff has been a breath of fresh air for the Giants after four games with the Mets, whose 2.67 team ERA ranks just behind the Giants and pitched like it, limiting San Francisco to an average of 4.0 runs while taking three of four contests.
Surely, the Giants are much more pleased with what they’ve gotten from No. 5 starter Alex Cobb, or even pitching depth such as Jakob Junis, who tossed five shutout innings (and walked no one) in his debut Friday.
On Saturday, Alex Wood was his normal, efficient self, requiring only 77 pitches to make it through five innings.
The only blip came in his final frame, when catcher Riley Adams put a ball into the left-field seats and Washington strung together two more hits to plate another run.
The Giants loaded the bases the next inning. While they weren’t able to capitalize with another run, it did mean a second straight extended break between innings for Wood, and that was likely enough to prompt manager Gabe Kapler to turn to his bullpen.
With four more clean innings from Dominic Leone, John Brebbia, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval, the Giants’ bullpen lowered its ERA in 60 2/3 innings this season to 1.78, the best mark in the majors.
Notable
— The Nationals employed a heavy shift on leadoff hitter Mike Yastrzemski in the first at-bat of the game, and Yastrzemski responded by laying down a bunt and easily reaching first base. Yastrzemski was eventually pulled for the right-handed hitting Austin Slater but not before extending his hitting streak to a team-high four games (with seven hits in that span). Slater built on his big night Friday by reaching base two more times Saturday after entering for Yastrzemski in the fifth inning when Washington brought in left-hander Sam Clay to relieve Sanchez.
— It didn’t take long for Luis Gonzalez to make an impact in his first start with the Giants, after the former White Sox prospect was called up before Friday’s game. He drove in his first run as a major leaguer with a sacrifice fly as part of the four-run fifth inning, then reached base for his first hit as a Giant by bunting against the shift, similar to Yastrzemski, in the sixth inning.
— The Giants took some bumps and bruises Saturday, but everyone came out OK. Flores was spotted getting checked up by the training staff in the dugout after doubling and scoring in the fifth inning but remained in the game, and Belt appeared to jam his leg on a late slide into second base during the fifth, too, but jogged back to the dugout and also remained in the game.
