MILWAUKEE — After a disappointing start to the season, the Giants finally appear to be getting underway.
With a 15-1 win over the Brewers at American Family Field Friday night, the Giants (26-25) earned their ninth win in their last 11 games and climbed above .500 for the first time in 2023.
The San Francisco lineup hit 19, including three homers from Mitch Haniger, Brett Wisely and JD Davis. Haniger’s two-run shot against Milwaukee right-hander Freddy Peralta — his first home run for the Giants outside of Mexico City — marked a three-run second shot, while Wisely’s three-run blast capped a seven-run breakout that the game opened in the third.
“Of course a lot of good swings,” said manager Gabe Kapler. “Good bats throughout the lineup. Even some of the at-bats that didn’t end well were difficult at-bats and resulted in higher pitch counts. I think our guys did a good job from start to finish.”
The Brewers – already shaken by the loss of shortstop Willy Adames, who was hospitalized after being hit by a foul ball in the dugout late in the second half – never recovered, managing just one run in three-goal over 5 2/ 3 innings against left-hander Alex Wood.
Wood had five innings left in his first six appearances this year, but on Friday he provided the Giants much-needed distance by scoring five hits and throwing 93 pitches in his longest start of the season. Tristan Beck took care of the rest, firing 3 1/3 scoreless innings to give his relief mates a breather after the club’s bullpen game on Thursday.
The San Francisco pitching team has not allowed more than four runs in 12 straight games, the longest active streak in the majors.
“The guys got a lot of runs for me,” Wood said, smiling. “They wanted me to get the sixth inning today. That was great. I had to think about it in the third round when they scored a lot of runs. It was great. Every time you get that support, it’s great. Hopefully they continue to do that every time I launch.”
The Giants stumbled out of the gate this season, going by just 6-13 in their first 19 games, but since April 22 they’ve managed to turn the tide by going 20-12 in 32 games.
Several factors have been instrumental in their recent rebound, including the perfect performance of their bullpen (.88 ERA in their last 11 games), a scorching performance from Michael Conforto (.368 batting average with seven homers and 16 RBIs in his last 15 games), and the arrival of commanding rookies like Casey Schmitt, Patrick Bailey and Wisely, who combined for 8 of 15 with seven RBIs from the bottom third of the lineup on Friday.
All positive developments have seen the Giants record their first win since last August, although they still have work to do in the National League West, where they trail behind the Dodgers (31-21) and the D-Backs on the third place (29-21).
“It’s cool to finally get over that hump,” Wood said. “We did it day after day. We feel like we have the characters on both sides of the ball. … It’s nice to see and feel like we’re playing our kind of baseball. We hit it, the bullpen has been great for the last two weeks, young people are doing their part. We gotta keep it going. Hopefully we’re slowly gaining momentum. This is what we will expect every day in the future.”
Like Conforto, Haniger got off to a slow start after missing the first three weeks of the season with an oblique strain, but he too is starting to show signs of breaking out of his ongoing crisis. The 32-year veteran started Friday with a .193 batting average and a .521 OPS in 24 games, but racked up three hits and managed four season-high runs against the Brewers, showing the kind of performance the Giants put on when they signed them he was signed to a three-year, $43.5 million deal during the offseason.
Haniger said he’s primarily been working on managing his exertion and staying on his feet, which he hopes will help him find a better rhythm on the plate.
“It’s about making adjustments,” Haniger said. “Not the first month I envisioned the year. I definitely want to produce more and achieve more. At the end of the day, I just have to keep working hard and making adjustments. it will come It has always lasted my entire career for me. You go through ups and downs. You just have to learn from it and make adjustments.”