Giants Month in Review: June 2018

Finishing five games under .500 for the month of May and entering June with a record of 26-30 overall, the Giants were more than excited to turn the calendar to June for obvious reasons as it meant the return of the team's ace -- Madison Bumgarner. But before MadBum would make his season debut and return to the big leagues for the first time since suffering a broken pinky-finger in his final spring training outing, the Giants would exact revenge on a Philadelphia Phillies team that had embarrassed them less than a month earlier on the road. After being swept by the Phillies in four games, the Giants returned the favor by completing a three-game sweep of Philadelphia at AT&T Park, logging back to back shutout victories to kickoff the month of June and outscoring the opposition 12-1 in the series as rookie pitcher Dereck Rodriguez notched his first career win in the series finale.

Hosting the division-rival Arizona Diamondbacks for the next three games, the Giants would claim two of three as San Francisco finished the homestand with a record of 5-1. The lone defeat would be handed to Madison Bumgarner who in his season debut logged 6 innings in which he gave up two runs while walking none and striking out three. And while it would take him a few outings to shake off the cobwebs, it wouldn't be long before he began to resemble the Bumgarner of old by mowing down batters with strikeouts and putting up zeroes. Another highlight of the series would be that of Buster Posey who moved into 8th place on the Giants' all-time RBI list as he surpassed J.T. Snow with a 2-run double in Game 1 of the series vs Arizona for career RBI's 716 and 717, helping SF string together a season-best five-game winning-streak. Hitting the road for a 10-game road trip, the Giants' first stop along their journey would be in the nation's capital as the Giants took two of three from the Washington Nationals, including a 2-0 victory in the series-finale as Derek Holland out-dueled Max Scherzer. Shortstop Brandon Crawford who was hitting a league-best batting average of .439 since May 1 up to this point, provided all of the offense and fell a triple shy of the cycle, collecting four of San Francisco's five total hits to help the Giants claim the rubber-match as well as their first series victory at Nationals Park since 2010.

The loss by Scherzer would also end a streak of wins in nine straight decisions for the reigning NL Cy Young Award winner. We also finally saw the rematch between Giants reliever Hunter Strickland and Nats outfielder Bryce Harper, facing each other for the first time since their benches-clearing brawl a season ago. As expected, the rematch would be a lot less eventful as Strickland got Harper to hit a harmless ground out to second base, hopefully squashing their beef once and for all. But just as things were looking up for the G-Men, winners of 8 of their last 10, an ugly four-game series in Miami would be one Giants fans would prefer to forget. After dropping the first three games to the worst team in the National League, the Giants would avoid being swept by the last-place Marlins by salvaging the series-finale with a win in extra-innings as the two played on into a 16-inning marathon. Though the Giants would go on to win it by a final score of 6-3, they would lose their third baseman in the process as Evan Longoria took a pitch off his left hand that resulted in a fractured finger. The injury would require surgery and sideline the Giants third baseman for 6 to 8 weeks. It would also be in this series that Bumgarner would be ejected for the first time in his career after having some choice words for the home plate umpire as he exited his second outing of the season having allowed four earned runs in 5.1 innings.

Heading to Dodger Stadium for a three-game set against the arch-rival Dodgers, the Giants would drop the first two games before again avoiding the sweep and claiming a 4-1 victory in the series-finale on Father's Day, marking the first time in 12 games that the Giants would score more than two runs at Chavez Ravine. Returning home and hoping to build upon the win while also getting back at the visiting Marlins who nearly handed the Giants a four-game sweep, San Francisco would suffer their most disappointing loss of the season yet. After appearing to have solved Miami, the Giants took a 4-2 lead into the ninth inning before manager Bruce Bochy handed the ball off to closer Hunter Strickland who would suffer a meltdown both on and off the field as he failed to get the job done, allowing 3 runs on 3 hits and 2 walks in just 1/3 of an inning. The Giants would go on to lose the game, 5-4, and even worse, lost Strickland to injury as he punched a door in frustration, suffering a broken hand that would keep him shelved for 6 to 8 weeks. The heartbreaking loss would be a first for the Giants this season when leading after 8 innings as they were a perfect 31-0 entering the game. But they would manage to rebound and take the series over Miami by winning the next two.

A three-game series against the Padres would be kicked-off by a stellar outing from Madison Bumgarner who resembled the Bumgarner of old as he threw 8 shutout frames of three-hit baseball and struck out 8 in a 3-0 Giants victory, earning his first win of 2018. After splitting the next two games with San Diego, the Giants pulled off a come-from-behind victory in extras to take the series, three games to one. Falling behind 2-1 to the Padres in the 11th inning, it was the struggling Hunter Pence who proved to be the hero with a walk-off 2-run double to ascend the Giants over San Diego, 3-2. Next on the home stand for San Francisco would be the Colorado Rockies who entered the series hoping to be the first team to hand the Giants a series loss at AT&T Park since April, a streak of nine series victories and one tie. Instead, they would be just another statistic as the Giants won each of the first two games before failing to sweep and losing a wild one in the series-finale as the Rockies rallied in the ninth inning of a 9-8 final, snapping SF's five-game win-streak. In the second game of the series, MadBum logged another 7 shutout innings in which he gave up just two hits and walked a pair while totaling another 8 punch outs to bring his streak of consecutive scoreless innings to 16. Failing to receive any run support against Rockies starter Kyle Freeland who was also dealing (7 IP, 4 Hits, 1 Walk), Bumgarner received a no-decision but saw his team win as Brandon Crawford sent a solo homer deep into the night as the Giants walked-off with the 1-0 victory.

Finishing 7-3 on the home stand, the Giants would closeout the month of June on the road in the desert against the first-place Diamondbacks whom they would continue their winning ways against by sweeping Arizona in three-games. The series victory would be San Francisco's fourth straight, making them the hottest team in the National League, having won 8 of their last 10 games. Overall, the Giants finished the month of June with 18-wins and 10-losses, gaining 1 1/2 games in the standings as they enter July with a record of 45-40, tied with the Dodgers for second-place, 2.5 games behind the D-Backs. And though their team batting average took a dip from .260 in April-May to .242 in June, their runs per game saw a slight increase from 4.1 to 4.2. However, the team's biggest improvement was that of the pitching staff as their ERA dropped from 4.62 April-May to 2.70, the lowest ERA in the month of June for a Giants team since 1964. That number was aided in large part thanks to a pair of rookies as Andrew Suarez (2-0, 2.62) and Dereck Rodriguez (3-1, 3.21) have both stepped up and answered the call in place of the injured Johnny Cueto and Jeff Samardzija. The young duo along with Chris Stratton (2-2, 3.55 ERA in June) figure to make for a tough decision for skipper Bruce Bochy on who to keep in the rotation and on the big league roster when Cueto and Samardzija return from the disabled-list.

The Giants will being July on the road in Denver as they look to continue their winning ways with Bumgarner on the mound. It'll be MadBum's first trip to Colorado with the team since a dirt-biking accident cost him two months on the disabled-list a season ago. Following the 3-game series in the Mile High City, the Giants will kickoff a 10-game home stand before the All-Star break. And with both Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey leading their respective positions in NL All-Star votes, the 2018 All-Star Game is one Giants fans won't want to miss.

Noteworthy: One other Giants highlight in the month of June was the MLB Draft as the Giants held the 2nd overall pick which they would use to select catcher Joey Bart out of Georgia Tech. Owning a top 5 pick for only the fifth time in franchise history, it would mark only the second time the Giants have ever had the 2nd overall selection and first since the 1985 MLB Draft when they selected as Will Clark out of Mississippi State University. Having been compared to their very own Buster Posey, San Francisco took the best player available and are hoping to have their catcher of the future after making Bart the highest draft pick ever selected out of Georgia Tech, eclipsing Kevin Brown who was selected 4th overall by the Texas Rangers in 1986.


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