The Giants on Friday night did what they’ve done better than all but one MLB team this season in a wild 6-5 win over the Atlanta Braves — they rode the long ball.
Brandon Belt, Brandon Crawford, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Donovan Solano all homered, accounting for five of the Giants’ six runs in the thrilling 11-inning win at Oracle Park that snapped a two-game losing streak.
After Tyler Rogers blew a 4-2 lead in the top of the ninth by giving up a three-run homer to Travis d’Arnaud, Solano pinch-hit and crushed a homer in his first at-bat since coming off the COVID-19 Injured List.
The Giants won it in the bottom of the 11th inning when Kevin Gausman delivered with a pinch-hit walk-off sacrifice fly to score Crawford. San Francisco was out of position players, forcing the staff ace to bat, and he came through.
For eight innings, everything was going according to plan for the Giants. Logan Webb went seven strong innings and the offense crushed three homers.
Webb, the Giants’ best starter during the second half of the season, gave up two runs in the first inning, but Belt quickly erased the deficit with his 26th homer of the season, a two-run shot into the arcade in right.
Crawford led off the bottom of the second inning with a homer off Braves starter Ian Anderson to give the Giants the lead.
Two innings later, Wade Jr. padded the lead with a Splash Hit, his 18th homer of the season.
With four homers in the win, the Giants now have 227 this season, surpassing the 2000 team for the second-most in franchise history. Only the 2001 Giants, led by Barry Bonds, hit more (235).
Barring a historic slump, with 14 games left in the regular season, the Giants will surpass 235 homers and set a new bar for homers in a season by the franchise.
Webb continued his run of dominance, allowing six hits and two earned runs in seven innings. He didn’t walk any batters and struck out nine Braves. He was in line for the win until Rogers gave up the homer to d’Arnaud.
With the win, the Giants improved to 96-52 and pushed their lead in the NL West to two games after the Los Angeles Dodgers lost to the Cincinnati Reds earlier in the day.