ATLANTA _ During the first two weeks of the regular season, the Giants' at-bats with runners in scoring position appeared as challenging as crushing a moving pinata with a blindfold on.
That blindfold has been now ripped off and that pinata has been smashed into pieces. The Giants left no doubt with a 11-2 win over the Braves Saturday, as they're celebrating their fifth straight series victory and reaping the rewards of hitting the target over and over again.
For the first time since May 15-17, 2015, the Giants pushed across at least nine runs in three straight games as they scored in four straight innings to open a 10-2 lead by the bottom of the fifth.
After starting the season 8-for-67 with runners in scoring position, the Giants went 9-for-15 with runners in scoring position on Saturday as Alen Hanson, Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford all finished with multiple RBIs.
Crawford, Posey and Andrew McCutchen all finished with three hits while center fielder Gorkys Hernandez led the Giants' offense with four. The 11 runs San Francisco scored set a season high as the Giants picked up their sixth win in their last seven games.
A day after snapping the Braves' 19-game streak without having a starting pitcher suffer a loss, the Giants knocked right-hander Brandon McCarthy out of the game in the top of the fourth inning.
After falling behind 1-0 on a Freddie Freeman RBI groundout in the first, the Giants' offense picked up where it left off on Friday.
Hanson, a fill-in for injured second baseman Joe Panik, smoked a two-run double off McCarthy in the top of the second that scored Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford. In the third inning, a Belt RBI single plated Andrew McCutchen before Evan Longoria picked up two more RBIs with his 1,500th career hit.
Longoria blooped a double in front of Braves right fielder Nick Markakis to pad the Giants lead, but San Francisco didn't stop there.
With two outs, Hanson stepped up and yanked an 0-1 cutter from McCarthy into the right-field seats to push the Giants ahead 7-2. Hanson's four RBIs in the first three innings set his single-game career high of three, which he posted in his first game with the Giants thanks to a three-run home run he crushed in an April 28 loss to the Dodgers.
The Giants signed Hanson as a minor-league free agent this offseason and he arrived in spring training with an opportunity to compete with Kelby Tomlinson, Orlando Calixte and other free-agent infielders Chase d'Arnaud, Andres Blanco and Josh Rutledge for a spot as a reserve infielder.
Hanson didn't last long in the competition as the Giants optioned him to minor-league camp on March 12, but he surpassed Calixte, d'Arnaud and Rutledge on the depth chart with a torrid start to the year with Triple-A Sacramento.
When Panik suffered a torn UCL in his left thumb Friday, the Giants called up Hanson who was leading the Pacific Coast League in batting average. He's filled in admirably at the plate during his first week with the club and also recorded two putouts on softly hit grounders he needed to charge on Saturday.
All the offense provided left-hander Ty Blach with the confidence to attack a Braves lineup that led the National League in runs entering the weekend.
Blach allowed Freeman's RBI groundout in the first and an unearned run in the third, but set a new season high with 72/3 innings pitched on Saturday. After inducing a 6-4-3 double play off rookie Ronald Acuna Jr.'s bat in the bottom of the eighth, an error from Hernandez on a line drive to center field prevented Blach from completing the frame.
Thanks to six innings of work from righty Chris Stratton on Friday night, Blach allowed manager Bruce Bochy to continue to ease the load on a bullpen that won't have the benefit of an off day until May 13. With rookie lefty Andrew Suarez slated to throw Sunday, the Giants should have nearly every reliever available and could give several position players a day off.
Bochy likely won't have right-hander Reyes Moronta ready, though, as Moronta left Saturday's game after throwing eight straight balls in the top of the ninth inning. Moronta walked off the field with a trainer and was replaced by Pierce Johnson.
With series victories over the Angels, Nationals, Dodgers, Padres and Braves, the Giants have won five series in a row for the first time since accomplishing the feat in June of 2016.
