WASHINGTON — The Giants are back on track, securing a sweep of the Nationals to rebound from the first series loss of the season.
With a 12-3 win Sunday afternoon at Nationals Park, the Giants swept Washington on the road for only the second time since the Nationals moved to their new home in 2008 and broke out the brooms for the second time on this four-city, 11-game trip, improving to 7-3 through its first 10 stops. Over the three-game series in Washington, the Giants outscored the Nationals by a 24-6 margin.
Here are some quick takeaways from the sweep.
Webb returns to form
Logan Webb was back in form Sunday, though he lost another impressive streak.
Webb wasn’t himself in his first start on this trip, pitching only into the fourth inning against the Mets and taking his first loss in 25 starts, snapping a streak that was the best in franchise history.
On Sunday, his only problem was Yadiel Hernandez. The left fielder drove in all three Nationals runs off of Webb in 6 2/3 innings. Hernandez’s third-inning home run into the Giants bullpen in left field was the first Webb had allowed since Sept. 12, a streak that spanned 59⅓ innings, including his two playoff starts. His regular-season streak of 44⅔ innings was the third-longest active streak in the majors.
After that home run, though, the most the Nationals were able to manage against Webb was an infield single. Webb turned a lead over the bullpen after recording six strikeouts and allowing seven hits, while walking one and allowing the one, big hit to Hernandez in the third inning.
Neither Webb’s streaks of not losing or allowing a home run made it back to San Francisco alive.
Joc’s jamming
There aren’t many players swinging a hotter bat than Joc Pederson, who on Sunday recorded his fifth multi-hit game of this trip — and 18th multi-homer game of his career.
Pederson continues to make the loudest contact of anyone on the team, with his leadoff home run leaving the bat at 111 mph and his fifth-inning double down the right field line at 109 mph. His second blast of the game — and team-leading fifth of the season — traveled a mere 404 feet, leaving the bat at 105.3 mph. Even his fly out to left was launched at 98.7 mph and traveled 349 feet. It had an expected batting average of .560.
In nine games on this trip, Pederson is hitting .375/.344/.813 with three home runs and six RBIs, including the two runs he drove in Sunday.
Wilmer Flores also extended his hitting streak to a team-high five games with a first-inning single that drove in Brandon Crawford, then recorded another RBI with a single in the fifth to extend the Giants lead to 5-3. With three more hits Sunday, Flores is batting .444 (8-for-18) over the course of his hitting streak.
Brandon Belt had seen his average dip to .220 with only one hit in 21 at-bats since the club left Cleveland but sent a shot to center field that, 411 feet away, would have been a home run in 19 MLB parks but resulted in an RBI triple to make it 4-1.
Pouring it on with a six-run ninth inning, the Giants secured their third straight game with double-digits base hits and matched their highest scoring total of the season.
However, the Giants’ 99 wRC+ entering Sunday still ranked 16th in MLB, and their team batting average (.230), on-base percentage (.304) and slugging percentage (.366) all ranked in the middle of the pack, no higher than 14th and as low as 17th in the league.
Pitching staff withstands tough test
When the Giants embarked on this trip, they were facing the prospect of 12 games in 12 days spanning four cities. At last, it comes to an end Monday in Milwaukee (making up one of three games with the Brewers lost to the delayed start of the season). If the initial challenge wasn’t daunting enough, it only got tougher along the way.
The Giants had a full starting rotation at the outset of this trip but return home with two of their five starters on the injured list. A rainout in New York followed by a doubleheader further complicated matters, as the Giants burned through two starters and 10 relievers on a single day and turned the schedule into an eight-game, seven-day stretch.
To navigate it, the Giants have already used one bullpen game, Friday night’s 7-1 win against the Nationals, and are expected to use another Monday in Milwaukee. Less likely is that the Giants call up an arm to start Monday in Milwaukee, but what is near certain is that it won’t be Carlos Rodón, whose rotation spot would line up for Monday’s game but instead will receive an extra day of rest.
On top of that, Webb and Rodón both fell victim to the cold, dry air in New York that they said made it difficult to grip the ball.
The circumstances make it all the more impressive that the Giants have maintained one of the most effective pitching staffs in the majors.
They still haven’t allowed more than six runs in a game and, entering Sunday, had allowed fewer runs (39) than all but two other teams. Their 2.48 ERA entering Sunday ranked behind only the Dodgers (2.24). On this arduous trip alone, Giants pitchers have even slightly outperformed their season totals, limiting the Guardians, Mets and Nationals to a 2.38 ERA and a .231 average entering Sunday.
Credit is due to an expertly managed bullpen.
Webb’s 6⅔ innings Sunday marked only the second time on this trip that the Giants have received more than five innings from a pitcher, pairing with Rodón’s seven-inning, one-run outing in the opener at Cleveland as a bookends of sorts, with only one game to go Monday in Milwaukee.
And with another 2⅓ shutout innings from Jose Alvarez, Tyler Rogers and Zack Littell, the Giants’ bullpen lowered its league-leading ERA even lower, to 1.71 over 63.0 innings this season.
