With their bullpen in tatters during a five-game losing streak, Giants relief pitchers stood tall Tuesday in an 8-2 road win over the Los Angeles Angels.
After getting four solid innings from starter Trevor Cahill, manager Gabe Kapler turned to Caleb Baragar, Sam Selmon, Wandy Peralta, Jarlin Garcia and Shaun Anderson for an inning each as the Giants won for the first time since Aug. 11 and a 7-6 win over the Houston Astros.
Baragar, who pitched a scoreless fifth, got the win to improve to 3-1.
The closest thing to drama from the bullpen came from Anderson in the ninth when he nearly hit Mike Trout with two head-high pitches before walking him. The pitches may or may not have been in retaliation for Evan Longoria getting hit in the back in the fifth inning by Jacob Barnes.
Anthony Rendon followed with a single, both runners moved up on a wild pitch, and Shohei Ohtani drove in a run with an infield out for the Angels. Anderson recovered to get Brian Goodwin on a popup and struck out Jo Adell to end the game.
The Giants got off to a good start when Mike Yastrzemski hit the first leadoff home run of his career against loser Dylan Bundy, his sixth of the season, and the slumping Pablo Sandoval somehow connected with a high Bundy pitch and drove it over the fence for his first home run of the season in the second with Longoria aboard.
A two-out RBI single by Brandon Belt put the Giants up 4-1 in the third inning, and Brandon Crawford lined a two-run double against Barnes into the right field corner of a 6-1 lead.
Crawford's blow chased home Donovan Solano, who singled, and Longoira, who was hit in the back by a pitch.
The Giants closed out their scoring on three consecutive doubles from Brandon Belt, Longoria and Sandoval in the top of the ninth inning.
For the Angels, Tommy LaStella smoked a high Cahill change-up for a solo home run in the bottom of the first inning about 13 hours after his two-run shot ended the game Monday night against Trevor Gott. It was the 21st consecutive game the Giants have surrendered a home run, an ongoing club record.
Cahill, who didn't get out of the second inning in his first start with the Giants, didn't pitch long enough to get the win but set the table for the bullpen with four solid innings of work.
The right-hander gave up his lone run on LaStella's home run and had a walk and four strikeouts. He threw 65 pitches,40 for strikes, and conceivably could be ready to push his pitch count into the 70s and beyond in his next start.
With the Giants up 4-1 after three, Cahill faced just six batters in his last two innings without giving up a run.
The Giants went in to the game without the services of Tyler Rogers, Tony Watson and Gott, all of whom have had heavy workloads of late.
Peralta, the left-hander who gave up five earned runs and four hits without giving up a single run in Sunday's 15-3 loss to the Athletics, got into trouble in the seventh inning when Shohei Ohtani reached on a throwing error by Brandon Crawford and Goodwin walked.
Another disaster was averted when Adell hit into a 6-4-3 double play and pinch-hitter Max Stassi popped to short. Although the play on Adell at first base was close and the Angels were down by five runs, manager Joe Maddon chose not to challenge the ruling.
Besides his first-inning home run against Bundy, Yastrzemski saved two runs with a diving catch off the bat of David Fletcher with two outs and runners on second and third.
Goodwin opened the inning with a double off Cahill, with Jo Adell following with a walk. Anthony Benboom then sacrificed runners to second and third. Cahill struck out Luis Rengfo on a change-up before Fletcher hit a blooper to right that Yastrzemski caught with a headlong dive.
The scene shifts to Oracle Park Wednesday and Thursday night against the Angels (8-16), concluding a two-game road trip, with Johnny Cueto and Kevin Gausman drawing the starts for the Giants.
