Before the San Francisco Giants would even take the field in the series-opener against the division-leading Arizona Diamondbacks on August 2, the month would get off to an unfortunate start as the team learned they would be without both Johnny Cueto and Pablo Sandoval for the remainder of the season as both players were ruled out with injuries just a day apart. With Johnny Cueto needing Tommy John surgery and Pablo Sandoval suffering a significant tear in his right hamstring, the two injuries would only make things harder for a team looking to gain ground in the standings. An 8-1 win over the D-Backs would help brighten the mood, but back to back losses would force the Giants to hope for a series split which they would succeed at, sandwiching the four-game set with a win in the finale.
Hoping to carry some momentum into their next series as the Giants returned home for a short two-game series to host the defending champion Houston Astros who were without several key cogs in their offense. Instead, the Giants were humbled on consecutive days as the bullpen failed to close out a pair of stellar starts from starters Dereck Rodriguez and Madison Bumgarner. The loss in the opener would prove to be one of the more heart-wrenching losses of the season as the Giants took a 1-0 lead into the ninth inning before calling on closer Will Smith to shut the door. With 2-outs in the first inning and two runners on, Smith had the Astros down to their final out before second baseman Marwin Gonzalez launched a 3-run shot to left, shocking the AT&T Park faithful. Prior to the blown save, the Giants had a record of 46-2 when leading after 8 innings until Smith's hiccup as he surrendered his first home run in a Giants uniform. Going seven strong innings in which he allowed only 3 hits, walked none and struck out 7, Rodriguez's impressive outing would result in a no-decision after having a win stripped away. Bumgarner would pitch just as well in Game 2 the following day, tossing seven shutout frames before reliever Ray Black spoiled things in the 8th inning by allowing a 2-run home run to Houston first baseman Tyler White as the 'Stros left San Francisco with the 2-game sweep.
With a day off before beginning a four-game series against the visiting Pittsburgh Pirates, the Giants would need to regroup and solve a team who they've lost 12 of their last 17 games against in AT&T Park. After a 10-5 loss in the series-opener, the Giants answered with a 13-run outburst in Game 2, winning in a 13-10 slugfest in which San Francisco would bat around twice in a game for only the second time this season as they sent nine batters to the plate in the first inning and ten in the third. Buster Posey led the charge with his 18th career 4-hit game and second on the season as every starter managed to hit safely and score at least once including pitcher Derek Holland. Giants hitters would force a season-high 11 walks in the ballgame, the most since August 8, 2016 at Miami, four of them by Andrew McCutchen who drew a career-high four walks for the third time in his career and first since 2015. But in Game 3, a day in which the Giants would honor the all-time home run leader Barry Bonds by retiring his jersey number 25, the Giants offense appeared to have used all of their runs the night before as they were shutout by a final of 4-0. Thankfully, another dazzling start by Dereck Rodriguez (7 innings, 2 hits, 1 walk, 1 earned run and 4 strikeouts) would aid the Giants in salvaging the final game to split the four-game set.
Next on tap would be a trip to Dodger Stadium to renew rivalries with the archrival Dodgers. What started off as a classic pitchers duel between Madison Bumgarner and Clayton Kershaw in the series-opener, soon turned into a meltdown of bullpens as L.A. appeared to be on track for a 2-1 win before the Giants scratched four runs across the board in the 9th inning. Down to their final out, San Francisco rallied against Scott Alexander who filling in for Kenley Jansen, allowed a go-ahead 2-run single to the pinch-hitting Nick Hundley. The Giants would strike for another pair of runs via a Gorkys Hernandez RBI single and a fielding error by first baseman Max Muncy, helping San Francisco steal the 5-2 victory. Game 2 of the series would feature just as much drama as both teams' starting pitchers pitched well before the Giants scored in the 9th inning to pull out the 2-1 win. But it was what took place in the 7th inning that would steal the headlines as the Giants and Dodgers partook in another benches-clearing fracas. No surprise, right?
Things got testy when Giants catcher Nick Hundley had some choice words for Dodgers outfielder Yasiel Puig who appeared to throw a fit after fouling off a pitch he thought he should've taken deep. With Bumgarner on the mound the night before who's had his fair share of history with Puig in the past, the bombastic outfielder made a similar gesture which left MadBum shaking his head. But after doing it for a second consecutive night, Hundley finally did the baseball world a favor by telling Puig to quit his complaining and return to the batters box which Puig took exception to before engaging in a shoving match. And while Hundley showed restraint, Puig went berserk, taking a swipe at the Giants catcher despite being held back by several of his Dodgers teammates as well as Dodger skipper Dave Roberts. Both players would be separated before both were issued an ejection. For their actions in the dust up, Puig would receive a two-game suspension and Hundley would be fined, but the real damage would be done to that of Dereck Rodriguez who sustained a hamstring injury during the fray, landing him on the 10-day disabled-list. It would serve as quite the blow with the Giants playing catch-up and already without starters Jeff Samardzija and Johnny Cueto. The Dodgers would avoid the sweep with a 4-3 extra-inning win in Game 3.
Just when the Giants appeared to be in line for a favorable match-up against the lowly Cincinnati Reds, whatever sliver of hope that remained in the Giants playoff chances took a big hit as Cincy pulled off the three-game sweep. Making the trip to Cincinnati's Great American Ballpark, appropriately nicknamed "Great American Smallpark" for its offensive-friendly dimensions, that didn't appear to be the case for the G-Men as they managed to only score one run in each of the first two games and were outscored 20-6 overall en route to a three-game sweep despite the Reds being without their best hitter in Joey Votto for the entire three-game series. The Giants would give a much better showing in their next series in New York as they squared off with the Mets in four. After a struggle-filled win in the series-opener which the Giants would win 2-1 in 13-innings with the help of some poor defense and an error that scored the winning run, the Mets would claim Games 2 and 3. But in the series-finale, San Francisco would turn to ace Madison Bumgarner who's had ownage on the Mets in Citi Field thoughout his career. MadBum improved his scoreless-inning streak to 33 in Queens before allowing a solo home run to Todd Frazier. The solo dinger would be the only blemish on the day for Bumgarner who tossed 8 innings of 5-hit ball, walking none and striking out eight as he out-dueled NL Cy Young candidate Jacob deGrom and also drove in the winning-run with an RBI double in the Giants' series-splitting, 3-1 win.
Returning home for the start of an 11-game homestand beginning with a rematch of the 2010 World Series against the Texas Rangers, the Giants would get another strong outing from rookie pitcher Dereck Rodriguez, allowing 2 earned runs over 6 innings pitched. But while D-Rod appeared to be in line to get his seventh win of the season, the Giants bullpen failed to hold the lead and San Francisco's 6-0 advantage quickly evaporated, giving up five runs in the last four innings before dropping the game in the 10th inning, 7-6. The loss would be just the latest heart-breaking defeat suffered by the bullpen in the last month, but a bounce back performance in Games 2 and 3 would allow the Giants to take the series. Game 2 would witness the Giants tally a pair of homers for the first time at home since June 19, a span of 30 games, putting into perspective just how serious San Francisco's recent power outage has been. And on a day the ball club celebrated their 8-year anniversary of the 2010 World Series triumph, the Giants would get their revenge after spoiling the series-opener. Sadly, it would be the last series of the season for catcher Buster Posey who was shutdown before Sunday's finale to undergo surgery to repair the ailing hip that caused him to sit out of July's All-Star Game. With a recovery timetable of six months, Posey is expected to be ready in time for camp next season. Prior to being shutdown, Posey had hit .284 on the season with five home runs and 41 RBI's.
Hosting Arizona for a three-game meeting, the Giants would look to pull off a bit of a late-season miracle as well as hopefully play the role of spoiler. They would do just that in at least two of the three games, as Giants pitching put together back to back shutouts to take the series, the second of which on a walk-off as the pinch-hitting Gorkys Hernandez supplied all the offense needed with the first walk-off hit of his career, sending the first and only pitch he saw to left field with a single to score Steven Duggar from second base, snapping the scoreless tie. The shutout win would mark the ninth straight start by the Giants starting pitching staff with an ERA below 2.00. With Arizona scuffling at the plate, the D-Backs would see their struggles hit 25 consecutive scoreless-innings before finally scoring a run in the third inning of Game 3, a game in which they would salvage and fend off the three-game sweep with a 3-1 victory. Pitcher Dereck Rodriguez would suffer the loss and though he would only allow three runs over 5 innings pitched, it was clear he didn't have his best stuff as he gave up five hits and walked four, snapping a streak of nine consecutive starts of allowing two runs or less. Despite the loss, the Giants managed to win the season series against Arizona, 11-8.
Set to finish the month of August with the first of three games against the Mets, the Giants received some unfortunate news regarding outfielder Steven Duggar who appeared to hurt his shoulder in the series against Arizona while diving back to second base on a close play. An MRI would reveal a torn labrum in Duggar's left shoulder which would put an end to his 2018 rookie campaign. The team would also say goodbye to one of their most productive hitter this year as they dealt Andrew McCutchen to the New York Yankees in exchange for two prospects -- infielder Abiatal Avelino and right-handed pitcher Juan De Paula. A free-agent at the end of the season, San Francisco shipped 'Cutch to a playoff contender that had been in talks with Giants brass as far back as before the July 31st trade deadline. With the two teams unable to make a deal at that time, the Yanks made sure to capitalize on their second and final opportunity, acquiring the former MVP and 5-time All-Star just in time to make him eligible for the team's October roster, if the Yankees do in fact make the postseason. As of September 1, New York currently sits 7.5 games behind the first place Red Sox in the AL East, while holding a 5.5 game cushion for the American League's top Wild Card spot. At the time of his departure, McCutchen led the team in games (130), doubles (28), runs (65), walks (73), home runs (15) and RBI's (55).
The McCutchen trade coupled with the injury to Duggar would open the door for the Giants to kick the tires on their No. 4 prospect Chris Shaw who Bruce Bochy and company will get an extended look at in the final month of the season, as well as catcher Aramis Garcia, both of whom would be called up in time for the series-opener against the Mets. With Bochy wasting no time to plug them into the lineup, the duo would make their debuts together in a 7-0 win over the Mets. Both players would contribute in the victory, and with much of the hype surrounding the power of Shaw who finished 0-for-2 with a sac-fly, it was Garcia who stole the show. Carrying a 1-0 lead into the eighth inning, Garcia kicked things off with a lead-off home run to make it 2-0, San Francisco, becoming only the second Giants catcher since 1919 to homer for his first career hit (Eliezer Alfonzo 6/2/2006 also vs the Mets). With the Giants tacking on four more runs and batting around in the inning, Garcia would connect on an RBI single to become the first player in Giants franchise history to record the first two hits of his career in the same inning. With Garcia's help, the offense would back arguably the best outing of rookie pitcher Andrew Suarez's career -- 7 innings, 2 hits, 0 walks, 0 runs, 4 strikeouts. Having Garcia behind the dish might've had something to do with that considering the two were teammates in the Minors and even before that back in High School as the pair grew up in south Florida together.
Collectively, the Giants finished the month of August with a record of 13 wins and 14 losses and currently sit at an even 68-68 on the year. Entering the final calendar month of the season, the Giants have 26 games remaining and sit in fourth place in the NL West behind the Diamondbacks, Dodgers and Rockies, yet only trail by 6.5 games in the division. And while the first two games of September will be against the lowly Mets, the Giants still have trips to Colorado, Milwaukee and St. Louis on the calendar, all of whom are fighting for playoff spots in the NL. Not to mention the Braves, Rockies and Dodgers are all slated to pay AT&T Park a visit one more time this season. The only sub-par team that the Giants will see in the final month are the Padres who the Giants will see both at home and on the road before the end of the regular season. So if the Giants have yet to play their best baseball of the season and hope to stand a chance in pulling off a comeback in time for the postseason, they'll need to show it down the stretch against some formidable opponents and without one of their offensive leaders in Buster Posey.
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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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