Giants bludgeon Orioles 13-2 to complete 5-1 homestand

SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants have had a very inconsistent season and despite their prolonged losing streaks in July and August, they are still very much alive in the wild card standings.

A four-run 4th inning highlighted by a two-run triple from rookie Drew Gilbert staked Justin Verlander to a seven-run lead in the Giants 13-2 blowout win over the Orioles to finish off a very successful 5-1 homestand. Prior to this homestand, the Giants dropped 11 of their last 13 games.

“We needed to play better at home,” Manager Bob Melvin said. “To be able to sweep the Cubs and take two out of three here, swing the bats better…score some runs. Going into Colorado, feeling good about ourselves offensively, I think we’re in a much better place.”

To quote Lloyd Christmas from the comedy classic Dumb and Dumber, "So you're telling me there's a chance?"

Right now, the Giants are five games back of the Mets for the third and final wild card playoff spot. While making up that deficit is doable, the Giants must leap frog the Reds, Diamondbacks, and Cardinals. As a result, their odds of making it to the playoffs are at seven percent according to baseballreference.com.

One of the main reasons the offense is finally waking up is getting those all-important base hits with runners in scoring position (RISP). On Sunday, SF was 8-for-17 with RISP. Moreover, the team had 16 hits and sent veteran Japanese pitcher Tomoyuki Sugano to an early shower after Sugano surrendered ten hits and seven runs in 3 1/3 innings.

Rafael Devers homered in the first to get things started. Devers had a torrid month of August finishing with nine home runs, 21 runs batted in, and an on base plus slugging percentage of .989.

“That’s kind of who he is, when he gets on a hot streak it’s pretty extreme,” Melvin said. “You can carry a team and that’s the way he’s swinging right now. You feel like every time he comes up, something good’s going to happen. He’s hitting fastballs, breaking balls, balls up, balls down (in the strike zone). He has the ability to do a lot of damage which we’re seeing right now.”

The Giants have also homered in 14 straight games, dating back to August 17. The last time they homered in 14 straight games was the 2002 season, when the Giants won the pennant. Verlander started and ended this stretch at home with wins and now stands at 265. Appropriately, he is 35 wins away from the coveted 300-win club. 35 also happens to be Verlander's number which most certainly will be retired by the Detroit Tigers, the team that Verlander had the most success.

Following the game, Verlander had mixed feelings about his outing. While he qualified for the win, by his standards, five innings is the minimum, and he expected himself to go at least six if not seven innings. But at the grizzled age of 42, he threw a whopping 121 pitches (second most in MLB this season) but on the upside, allowed only three hits and had ten strikeouts.

“It feels a lot better than coming out and not getting a win,” said a relieved Verlander. “Especially when the guys go out and score you a bunch of runs. (The Orioles) really battled. Towards the end there I was trying (to pitch) to put the ball in play and still they got a lot of foul balls so I’m thankful to get through five.”

When asked about how impressive it was to notch ten strikeouts, Verlander said with a laugh, “Especially in five innings. Look, I wasn’t pitching for strikeouts, it just kind of happened. Obviously, a lot of strikeouts goes with a lot of pitches too so they kind of go hand in hand but having ten feels good.”

Verlander is about to pass former Giant Hall of Famer Gaylord Perry on the all-time strikeouts list. Perry is at 3534 and Verlander needs only five more Ks to take eighth place. The Giants offensively haven't had much punch in their lineup even after Rafael Devers was acquired on June 15. But there was another factor affecting run production and Devers was unfairly criticized.

After all, Devers is only one player in a nine-man lineup. At the time of Devers' arrival to the city by the bay, they were 41-31. Following this homestand, they are 27-38 for a record of 68-69. They are now in the home stretch with 25 games remaining and they embark on a six-game road trip to Denver and St. Louis. With the Cardinals battling it out with the Giants in the wild card, that series will be critical.

But the Rockies are worst team in the majors (no surprise there). Matt Chapman has been the Giants’ most consistent bat since donning the orange and black in 2024. Inside the numbers here are the wins and losses when Chapman is and is not playing.

When healthy, they're 56-48 when he is in the lineup and 44-29 when he is 100 percent healthy. Chapman has had two separate stints on the 10-day injured list missing a total of 32 games. Without "Chappy" the team is 12-21. At the time, he got injured diving back to first base on a pickoff attempt.

With a healthy lineup, warmer weather on the last homestand, playing freer and easier, the Giants have a heartbeat. September is the most fun month of the regular season because you can see the finish line and the final wild card spot in the distance. Now is the time for the Giants to keep that momentum going and not look back.