If the San Francisco Giants are going to make a run at a National League wild-card spot, they’ll need a scorching September.
They got off to a good start with an 8-2 win over the Colorado Rockies on Monday in the opener of a three-game series in Denver.
The Giants (69-69) and Colorado (39-99) will be back at it Tuesday night.
San Francisco, which sit five games out of the final wild-card spot, will send right-hander Logan Webb (12-9, 3.16 ERA) to the mound on Tuesday against Rockies left-hander Kyle Freeland (3-13, 5.28).
Webb will face Colorado for the 18th time in his career — and 17th start — when he takes the mound. In his previous appearances against the Rockies, he is 9-3 with a 3.10 ERA in 101 2/3 innings. Nine of those starts have come in Denver, where he is 3-2 with a 4.44 ERA.
This will be Webb’s second start of the season against Colorado. He got the decision on May 4 in a 9-3 road victory for San Francisco, allowing just one run on six hits with two walks and six strikeouts over seven innings.
The Giants were just 1 1/2 games out of first place after that victory and entered the All-Star break with a 52-45 record, but it’s been tough going since then. San Francisco lost 23 of its first 32 games after the All-Star break and struggled to score runs during a 2-11 stretch.
Things started to turn around in the final week of August. San Francisco has won eight of nine and averaged 8.5 runs in those victories.
“We went through a tough period where we couldn’t score any runs,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “You look at where we are in the league in runs scored and it’s not great, but we have the ability to do it.”
San Francisco showed that Monday by extending its home run streak to 15 games, the longest in the majors this season. Rookie Drew Gilbert hit his second and Rafael Devers (29) and Willy Adames (26) also added to San Francisco’s home run barrage.
Freeland will try to hold the Giants in check on Tuesday.
Freeland, who has faced San Francisco more than any other team in the majors, is 8-7 with a 4.21 ERA in those 26 appearances (all starts). Tuesday will be his third start this season against the Giants but he has not recorded a decision in those outings despite allowing three runs in six innings in both instances.
Freeland is coming off a strong outing at Houston on Thursday when he recovered from allowing three early runs to record a quality start. The veteran said his ability to make adjustments during the game has been vital.
“When you start getting deeper into games, you start making the little adjustments and things start coming back to you,” Freeland said after the Rockies’ 4-3 loss. “It’s constantly adjusting in the game. Pitch to pitch, at-bat to at-bat, inning to inning. You have to make those adjustments.”
–Field Level Media
