SF Giants continue rolling by blasting Rockies, move back to .500

The Giants’ playoff hopes appeared dead in the water less than two weeks ago after they dropped three of four games to the Padres in San Diego and lost the opener of a three-game set to the Milwaukee Brewers, causing San Francisco to fall 7 1/2 games back of a postseason position.

Losing starting pitcher Landen Roupp and all-star reliever Randy Rodríguez to season-ending injuries only seemed to exacerbate the Giants’ problems.

But as September begins, they still have a pulse.

The Giants began a six-game road trip on Monday with an 8-2 Labor Day victory over the Colorado Rockies. They’ve won eight of their last nine games, boasting a run differential of +34 during this stretch. At 69-69, they’re at .500 for the first time since Aug. 10.

“When you’re not swinging the bat well, it can affect the whole lineup. When you are, it can affect it the other way,” manager Bob Melvin told reporters in Denver. “It’s pretty extreme what we’ve looked like this year, but they’re all feeding off each other.”

Still, San Francisco made up no ground as the New York Mets, owners of the National League’s third and final wild card spot, beat the American League-leading Detroit Tigers 10-8. Despite the Giants’ win, they remain five games back of the Mets with 24 games remaining.

After their three-game series at Coors Field, the Giants travel to play the middling St. Louis Cardinals. Should the Giants maintain this recent brand of ball, they’ll position themselves to make up some ground by the time they return to San Francisco next week.

With long balls from Rafael Devers, Drew Gilbert, and Willy Adames, the Giants extended their streak of games with a home run to 15, their longest since 2001.

“We’ve got some guys that can swing it,” Melvin said. “We have some guys who have some power. … When you look up and down our lineup, even guys like (Casey Schmitt), there’s a lot of guys that can go deep.

“When you’re playing well, when you’re scoring some runs, typically that’s going to be a part of our game.”

Devers not only hit his second homer in as many games, but he set the record for the hardest-hit long ball by a Giant in the Statcast era (since 2015) with a 114.5 mph line drive over the right-field fence.

The Giants’ streak of failing to have a 30-homer hitter wouldn’t end if Devers reaches that mark, since 15 of his 29 homers this year were with the Red Sox. The streak would unquestionably end if Adames, who now has 26 homers on the season, reaches that mark by September’s end.

Fresh off recording his first career three-hit game on Sunday, Gilbert totaled his first four-hit game on Monday and continued making a case for more playing time. The 24-year-old’s two-run homer in the third inning came at the expense of rookie right-hander Chase Dollander, his teammate at the University of Tennessee.

The Giants’ three-homer barrage was more than enough on an afternoon where Kai-Wei Teng allowed two runs over 5 1/3 innings and totaled career-highs in strikeouts (eight) and whiffs (17).

“He was rolling pretty good. Based on how you typically use your bullpen and how we’ve kind of used it, it was nice that he was able to go out there for the sixth,” Melvin said of Teng. “Obviously, he gave up a couple runs, but man, he didn’t walk anybody, punched out eight, spinning the ball, heater was really good. You could see his confidence grow as the game went along, and he really, really wanted to go out for the sixth.”

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One of the few things that went wrong for the Giants on Monday afternoon was Schmitt leaving the ballgame after being drilled in the right elbow by a 95.7 mph sinker by Dollander.

Schmitt, who has already been banged up and bruised on numerous occasions, instantly went down in a heap of pain. Head athletic trainer Dave Groeschner tended to Schmitt for several minutes, and while Schmitt initially remained in the game to run, he was replaced by Christian Koss after one batter.

Melvin told reporters after the game that Schmitt’s X-rays came back negative, noting that the ball hit Schmitt near the funny bone. Koss will start Tuesday if Schmitt can’t play, but Melvin said he doesn’t believe Schmitt’s ailment will last more than a couple of days.