Giants takeaways: Evan Longoria visualizes success; bullpen starts to settle down
Evan Longoria had three RBI to reach 1,002 for his career, Donovan Solano went 4-for-4 and the Giants' bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in a 5-4 win over the A's
OAKLAND — Bruce Bochy leaned back in his chair in the visiting manager’s office at the Coliseum with an orange championship belt — normally awarded to the top hitter and pitcher after every Giants win — resting on his desk.
The Bay Bridge Trophy the Giants had won after they captured the season series with the A’s on Sunday was, well, somewhere out of sight.
The mementos may not be a huge deal in the grand scheme of things, although the Giants surely wanted to recognize Bochy after he managed his 4,000th Major League game. What was big was that the Giants were able to bounce back with two victories over their cross-bay rivals after they were swept by the Chicago Cubs in an often gut-wrenching three-game series earlier in the week.
Evan Longoria had three RBI to reach 1,002 for his career, Donovan Solano went 4-for-4 and the Giants’ bullpen pitched 4 1/3 scoreless innings in a 5-4 win over the A’s before 47,321 fans.
The Giants won five of nine games on the trip and are now four games back of the Cubs for the second wild card spot in the National League. They begin a weeklong homestand Monday against Arizona, playing the Diamondbacks twice before they face the San Diego Padres four times from Aug. 29 to Sept. 1.
“We had a great series in Arizona, then we went in and had a tough series at Wrigley,” catcher Stephen Vogt said. “Then we came here and did what we needed to do. We feel good about this road trip. Now we get to go back home and hopefully pick up where we left off today.”
Some takeaways from Sunday’s win
1. Longoria stays hot, gets timely hits: Longoria picked up his 1,000th career RBI in the third inning with a solo home run to center field off Brett Anderson. But he didn’t stop there.
With the Giants trailing 4-3 and the bases loaded, Longoria came through with a clutch two-run single through the hole between third baseman Matt Chapman and shortstop Marcus Semien.
After seeing Buster Posey battle reliever Blake Treinen in an 11-pitch at-bat that resulted in a strikeout. Longoria took the first pitch he saw from the former A’s closer to left field, scoring both Brandon Crawford and Donovan Solano to put the Giants up by one.
“I was just actually staring at the six-hole the whole time I was on deck,” Longoria said. “Buster had a long at-bat. I think he saw basically every pitch that Treinen throws. I don’t know if I’ve swung at a first pitch this whole series. I just kind of thought if this is the time, this was going to be it. I figured he would try to get ahead.”
Longoria spent time on the injured list last month with a strained plantar fascia in his left foot. From Aug. 4 to Saturday, though, Longoria had an OPS of .853 with 14 RBI and three home runs in 16 games. Before the injury in July, Longoria had a 1.537 OPS with 12 RBI and six home runs in nine games.
“When he gets going, there’s nobody hotter in baseball,” Vogt said of Longoria, his former teammate in Tampa Bay in 2012 for a short period. “Love the way he’s looking right now. His tempo. He’s not missing pitches.”
2. The bullpen settles down: Sam Coonrod, Reyes Moronto, Tony Watson and Will Smith each pitched one scoreless inning Sunday, with Coonrod improving to 4-0 and Smith collecting his 30th save.
In the bottom of the fifth inning with the bases loaded, Jandel Gustave came on in relief of Logan Webb and struck out Canha with a 96 mph fastball. In the sixth, the A’s had runners on first and second, Coonrod replaced Gustave and got Chad Pinder to ground into a double play before he struck out Josh Phegley. Vogt said that was the best Coonrod’s breaking ball has been since he started to catch him.
It may have taken some time for the roles of each reliever to be better defined after the Giants traded Sam Dyson and Mark Melancon on July 31. There have been pitfalls, but the bullpen appears to be in a better place now than it had been a few days ago.
“Those guys, they give you the ability to have some options, depending who’s coming up,” Bochy said. “The roles aren’t so defined like you may think. But the kids are doing a nice job.”
3. Logan Webb hits a speed bump: Webb struggled in his second career Major League start, allowing six hits — including two home runs to A’s center fielder Mark Canha — four earned runs and two walks.
Three of those runs came in the third inning when Webb allowed four straight hits, including a leadoff homer to Canha, doubles to Jurickson Profar and Corban Joseph and a single to Pinder.
“He threw strikes, but he was up a little bit today,” Bochy said of Webb.
Webb was solid in his first big league start Aug. 17 in Arizona when he allowed one earned run and five hits in five innings.
“Made some pitches I wish I didn’t. Left some up a little bit I wish I could take back,” Webb said. “Other than that, I thought I did what I wanted to — pound the zone with strikes and be as quick as possible.”