SAN FRANCISCO — Given how historically bad the Colorado Rockies have been this year, every series at Coors Field has felt like a borderline must-sweep for MLB playoff hopefuls. But for the Giants this week, there was no doubt.
They needed to take all three in Denver to keep their playoff hopes alive and they did, capping an energetic and surprisingly interesting series with a 10-8 win on Wednesday.
The Giants have won 10 of 11 and they crept a game closer to the postseason race a few hours after the New York Mets lost in Detroit. They have won four consecutive series for the first time all season, choosing a hell of a time to do so.
The charge in the finale was led by Matt Chapman, who homered twice on the same day he found out that he has been suspended for one game for his role in Tuesday’s benches-clearing incident. Chapman is appealing and likely will try to kick that can down the road as long as possible. Right now, the Giants are playing like a team that’ll need him through the final game of the season.
They’ll head to St. Louis just four games behind the Mets in the wild-card race, although New York does hold the tiebreaker, so it’s essentially a five-game deficit with 22 to go. They’re also just five games behind the slumping San Diego Padres, although again, the Giants would need to finish a game up because they don’t own the tiebreaker.
Stranger things have happened, and right now the Giants certainly are feeling dangerous. Here are three things to know from the final night at Coors this season …
Unlikely Record-Breakers
If you look at the lineup, it’s not necessarily a huge surprise that this group became the first in San Francisco Giants history to homer in 17 consecutive games. Rafael Devers already has 30 homers and Willy Adames looks like he’ll be next. Chapman’s two got him to 20 and Heliot Ramos could get there, too. There’s a good amount of power out there every day.
But … if you remember July and early August, this makes absolutely no sense.
The Giants put themselves in a deep hole by going 2-13 over a span of 15 home games right before and after the MLB trade deadline, and over that stretch they homered in back-to-back games just once. For weeks, they had trouble just scoring a second run most nights, and now they’re taking turns rounding the bases. During this streak, they’ve gotten homers from 12 different players.
The Giants are just two games away from tying the franchise record, set by the 1947 club in New York. That group got a 51-homer season from Hall of Famer Johnny Mize and had three other players hit at least 29.
Tip Your Cap
During the Farhan Zaidi years, the Giants gained a reputation for finding gold where others saw a pile of rocks. But the reality is that they were doing a great job with minor league free agents and older flyers long before Zaidi was hired. They have continued to do well in the first year under Buster Posey and Zack Minasian, who formerly headed their pro scouting department, giving him an intimate knowledge of other organizations.
Dom Smith is the best example this year, but recently, the Giants have gotten good work from Joel Peguero, a 28-year-old who signed in the offseason. Peguero recorded four outs Wednesday and has thrown nine scoreless innings since debuting in San Diego last month. He topped out at 101.5 mph in the thin Denver air.
JT Brubaker contributed two scoreless innings on Wednesday — helping to settle things down after the Rockies rallied — before running into trouble with one out in the ninth. Ryan Walker entered to finish it off.
It’s a team effort when you find unexpected help, and Posey and Minasian lean heavily on assistant GM Jeremy Shelley, who has a strong reputation when it comes to digging up unlikely contributors. The analytics and pro scouting groups deserve a lot of credit, too.
Rough for Ray
Left-hander Robbie Ray started to walk off the mound in the bottom of the fifth, thinking a strikeout had held a 4-1 lead. He didn’t get the call and he ended up not making it out of the inning.
Ray was charged with five runs — four earned — in 4 2/3 innings. Coors, man.
He struck out eight, which moved him back into the top 10 in the NL. Teammate Logan Webb currently ranks second in the league in strikeouts to Zack Wheeler, who is done for the year.
Ray dealt with tough luck, but he should still be relatively happy with the night. His fastball velocity had been down in recent starts but he maxed out at 95.8 mph on Wednesday.
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