WASHINGTON _ As the Golden State Warriors sought to clinch the Bay Area's sixth major professional sports championship of the decade, the franchise that captured the region's first three attempted to achieve its own important feat with a victory.
For the club that turned even-year titles into a stunning trend, the San Francisco Giants haven't won much since the Warriors last lost a championship in the summer of 2016.
But after a 9-5 series-opening win over the Washington Nationals Friday, the 32-31 Giants are above .500 for the first time since May 15.
After a second half free fall in 2016 and a 98-loss season last year, the Giants are playing winning baseball again and were victorious for the seventh time in their last eight games behind an early offensive outburst and a strong performance from a deep bullpen.
Andrew McCutchen opened the scoring for the Giants with a first inning shot off of Nationals starter Stephen Strasburg, who was lifted for an undisclosed injury after surrendering two more runs in the second.
McCutchen's solo blast to left center field was his third home run in his last five games after the Giants right fielder entered the month of June with three total homers.
After first baseman Pablo Sandoval led off the second inning with a double, he scored on an Alen Hanson single to double the Giants lead. Left fielder Hunter Pence followed Hanson with a double to the right center field gap that scored the speedy infielder from first base.
Hanson played third base Friday for the second time in his major league career and allowed manager Bruce Bochy to give Evan Longoria a rest against a tough right-handed starter. With a leadoff triple in the fourth inning, Hanson improved to 6-for-6 since returning from the disabled list last week.
His two-out, two-run game-tying home run allowed the Giants to come from behind and walk off against the Arizona Diamondbacks Wednesday and he barely missed his sixth home run of the season with a triple off the right field wall. It didn't take long for Hanson to score, though, as center fielder Gorkys Hernandez ripped a two-run blast to center field for his seventh home run.
Hernandez entered the season with five home runs in parts of five major league seasons and never hit more than eight in a single minor league campaign, but the Giants regular center fielder continues to provide a valuable source of power regardless of where he's slotted into the lineup.
The impressive showing from the Giants offense in the early innings aided the cause of rookie starter Andrew Suarez, who tossed seven innings of shutout ball to defeat the Phillies his last time out.
Suarez was on the verge of losing his spot in the Giants rotation after allowing three first inning runs against the Rockies May 28, but he finished off four more innings in that outing without giving up an earned run. With three scoreless innings to open his start against the Nationals, the left-hander appeared poised to take another big step in his development.
But Suarez ran into trouble in the bottom of the fourth as 19-year-old Nationals left fielder Juan Soto plopped a two-run homer just over the glove of Pence and into the visiting bullpen beyond the left field fence. After Washington tagged Suarez for three hits including a two-run single from Bryce Harper in the fifth, Bochy strolled to the mound and put the game in the hands of his bullpen.
Five relievers finished off the win for the Giants, but the efforts began with rookie Reyes Moronta who escaped the jam Suarez created in the fifth by inducing two outs in the air.
Though the Nationals added only one run after Suarez left, the Giants' offense continued to surge in the late innings thanks to RBI hits from Sandoval and Pence and a pinch hit sacrifice fly from Longoria.
