Giants Month in Review: April

With baseball season officially in full swing as the San Francisco Giants kiss the opening month of April goodbye, the reigning World Series champs haven't quite resembled a team that had just won it all several months prior. Last year the Giants got off to one of the hottest starts in franchise history through the first two months when they won 32 of their first 50 games. And while the G-Men still have another month to go to determine whether or not they can match last year's blazing start, duplicating or surpassing that mark is unlikely given the slow start they got off to in April.

Following a 3-1 start to the season after taking two of three in Arizona and the first of four games in San Diego, the Giants ran into a brick wall, dropping 8 straight including a three game sweep at the hands of the Colorado Rockies in San Francisco's home opening series. They wouldn't fair much better in their second series at AT&T as the D-Backs came in to take three of four in the city by the bay. The Giants would finally see their 8-game skid come to an end as the team celebrated their 2014 Championship run with a victory on the night in which the team was awarded their championship bling prior the team's Ring Ceremony game, only to lose the following day. The homestand wasn't all negative, however, as the Giants benefited from a much needed day off with a three-game sweep of the archrival Los Angeles Dodgers at Home which included walk-off wins in games two and three.

The Giants then took to the road where they split two games in Denver before the series finale at Coors Field was postponed due to inclement weather. A three game set at Dodger Stadium would witness one of the classic pitchers duels between the two hated rivals when World Series MVP Madison Bumgarner out-dueled 2014 NL MVP Clayton Kershaw in a 2-1 victory. However, the Dodgers would wind up winning the series finale the following day to take the series win, two games to one. The highlight of the month, though, has to be the surprising contribution of rookie pitcher Chris Heston who has done everything and then some since being asked to fill in for the injured Matt Cain. Called up from Triple-A Sacramento prior to his start on April 8, to fill the void of Cain who was placed on the DL with a flexor tendon strain in his right forearm, Heston dazzled in his season debut, pitching six innings in which he gave up 2 runs (both unearned), while allowing three hits, walking a pair and striking out five to earn the win. Aside from a minor bump in the road at the hitter-friendly Coors Field in Denver in which he was tagged for 11 hits and 6 earned runs in 5.1 innings pitched, Heston hasn't skipped a beat, allowing 1 or 0 runs in each of his other four starts.

Despite the lone shaky outing, the 27-year old has been a glowing bright spot for the Giants in the early going, boasting an ERA of 2.51 in 5 starts and a record of 2-2. With Matt Cain and Jake Peavy serving time on the disabled-list, manager Bruce Bochy is going to have a difficult decision to make regarding his pitching rotation if Heston's success continues. With little help from the injury bug in April as Brandon Belt, Casey McGehee and the aforementioned Matt Cain and Jake Peavy all saw time missed, the month of May figures to be bit brighter for the Giants as their offense looks to get a boost from 2014 All-Star outfielder Hunter Pence. The Giants' lanky outfielder suffered a left forearm fracture during Spring Training which has caused him to watch from the dugout. With Pence absent from the lineup, it's been shortstop Brandon Crawford who's led the team in home runs (5) and RBI's (14) thus far, two categories Pence will surely help out in when he makes his return later this month following a Minor League rehab assignment. 

With a 9-13 record in the month of April, things are already looking up for the Giants in the month of May as they flipped the page on their calendar with a three game sweep of the visiting Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim over the weekend to improve to 12-13 on the year, inching closer to the .500 mark. San Francisco completed the sweep thanks to a superb outing from hurler Tim Lincecum who registered his best performance of the season by scattering three hits (all singles) over 8 scoreless frames as the Giants awarded him with the 5-0 victory. The home team wasted no time to back their starting pitcher with some run support as Nori Aoki and Joe Panik led the game off with back-to-back home runs in the first inning, something the Giants haven't done since 1964. Next up, the Giants will host the San Diego Padres for a three game set before closing out their 10-game home stand with a four-game series versus Giancarlo Stanton and the Miami Marlins. 


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