With a 19-run outburst in their most convincing win of the 2021 season, the Giants wrapped up a four-game sweep of the Cincinnati Reds and own the best record in the majors.
Powered by four home runs including a third-inning grand slam from Steven Duggar, the 28-16 Giants cruised to a 19-4 win on Thursday and became the first MLB team to move 12 games above .500 this season.
The 19 runs the Giants scored were the most by any major league team in a game this season and their second-most of the Gabe Kapler era, trailing only the 23 they scored at Coors Field against the Rockies on September 1, 2020.
A Giants club that leads the majors in rotation ERA and home runs hit on the road has proven that an impressive start to the season is no fluke, but there’s one test Kapler’s team has yet to pass before they can be widely accepted as contenders in a rugged National League West.
The test begins Friday at Oracle Park, when the reigning World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers arrive to play the first of 19 games between the clubs this season.
When the Giants departed San Francisco last week, they left with a 14-4 road record and questions about whether the winning formula they’d developed along the waterfront would extend to ballparks around the National League. After a disappointing series split against the Pirates, the Giants rebounded with their most dominant series of the season against a Reds team that looked hopeless against the best rotation in baseball.
Logan Webb, Anthony DeSclafani, Kevin Gausman and Johnny Cueto combined to throw 24 innings and allow just two earned runs against a Reds offense that began the series averaging nearly seven runs per game at Great American Ball Park.
Cueto wasn’t at his best in Thursday’s series finale, but the veteran right-hander didn’t have to be as he exited after five innings of one-run ball with the Giants ahead 14-1. The offense built up an insurmountable advantage with a nine-run third inning that knocked Reds right-hander Tyler Mahle, who entered with a 2.93 ERA, from the game.
Mahle gave up a run in the first inning before six consecutive Giants reached base to open the third inning. After Reds manager David Bell brought reliever Micahel Feliz on in relief, Duggar greeted the right-hander with a 427-foot grand slam to dead center field that was easily the farthest home run of his career.
Feliz was unable to make it through the inning and Bell’s next reliever, Ryan Hendrix, also gave up a home run to the first batter he saw as Darin Ruf collected his third hit of a four-hit day with an opposite-field shot to give the Giants a 10-0 edge.
Brandon Crawford, who is enjoying the best power surge of his career, extended his team lead in home runs to 11 with a three-run homer into the right center field bleachers off Heath Hembree in the sixth inning. Crawford’s career-high in a single-season is 21, but he’s only topped 11 in four of his 11 major league seasons.
In a four-run seventh inning, Crawford added a two-run single to give him 29 RBIs on the year, surpassing his total of 28 from the 2020 season. Two batters later, Evan Longoria launched his sixth home run of the season.
With five consecutive victories to cap off a 6-2 road trip, the Giants were able to maintain a 1.0-game lead in the NL West over a Padres team that’s won six straight games. Despite all of the early success the Giants have enjoyed –much of which has been unexpected– the club could still find itself in third place in the division by the end of the weekend.
Through an impressive 44-game start, the Giants have given every indication they’ll be a tough matchup for a loaded Dodgers team. They’ll find out exactly how tough this weekend against a trio of heralded Los Angeles starters, Trevor Bauer, Walker Buehler and Julio Urías.
