SAN FRANCISCO — The schedule hasn’t been kind to the Giants over the season’s first month, but it provided a get-right spot for the struggling lineup at the perfect time and the group took advantage Friday.
The Washington Nationals have the worst ERA in the National League by a full run, and the Giants wasted no time jumping on their overmatched pitching staff. Eight Giants had a hit through the first two innings and all nine had reached base, and they kept going from there.
The Giants won 10-5, and for the first time all year, they did it with power. They were last in MLB with nine homers coming into the game, but they hit three at Nationals Park and added three doubles. Overall, they hit 13 balls at least 100 mph.
The scoring started with a three-run homer from Heliot Ramos, his first of the year. Matt Chapman and Rafael Devers also drove in runs during a six-run second inning.
The 10 runs were a season-high and got the Giants out of last place in terms of runs scored this season.
Here are the takeaways from the Giants’ eighth win of the season:
Signs of Life
Giants outfielders entered the night ranked 29th in the Majors in wRC+ and dead last in fWAR, but those numbers were headed in the right direction Friday.
Ramos’ blast to dead center left the bat at 107 mph and was just his third extra-base hit of the season. He yelled and pounded his chest as he approached third base on his jog, and it was easy to understand why. Ramos got off to such a slow start that he was briefly out of the starting lineup this week in Cincinnati. He desperately needed that swing.
With Harrison Bader sidelined, Drew Gilbert will get most of the time in center field. Gilbert had his first homer of the season and scored twice.
The Giants actually started to get a bit more production from their outfield in Cincinnati, with Jung Hoo Lee finally finding his swing. Lee was 1-for-4 with a walk against the Nationals.
Webb in Washington
There were signs that Logan Webb, who has gotten off to a rough start, was feeling more like himself. Webb’s velocity was up across the board and his sinker averaged 93.3 mph, an increase of more than a full mph over his first four starts.
Webb ended up getting charged with four earned runs in six innings, although the line could have been better. With runners on the corners and one down in the third, he got a double-play ball to second. Willy Adames’ throw to first was high and clanked off Devers’ glove, continuing a season-long trend of the Giants having trouble putting balls away at first base.
That cost Webb a run, and another high throw from Adames put a runner on ahead of a homer later in the game. Webb walked off the mound with a 5.40 ERA for the season, although he’s certainly throwing the ball better than he did in his first couple of starts.
Changing of the Shin Guard
Tony Vitello hinted earlier in the week that a timeshare could be coming behind the plate, and he made a notable decision Friday. With a righty on the other side and Webb on the mound, Vitello chose Daniel Susac over Patrick Bailey, which should also set Susac up to start at least two of three in this series.
Bailey is the best defensive catcher in baseball and is particularly helpful to Webb, who works around the edges of the zone. But as long as Susac hits, this will be a split, and he stayed hot on Friday.
Susac was 2-for-5, which actually lowered his average to .524. He had a hard single in his first at-bat and then blooped a ball to right later in the game and reached on a hustle double when James Wood couldn’t come up with it.
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