After an overall tough weekend in New York with the Yankees, the Giants really got their offense kick-started in game one against the White Sox on Monday.
It's taken a few games to get there, but we saw much of what Farhan Zaidi and Gabe Kapler envisioned with this offense. Things got off a bit of a slow start, as Michael Kopech struck out three of the first four batters he saw. After that, however, it was all San Francisco.
Joc Pederson got the party started with the a solo shot in the second, then Roberto Perez laced an RBI single to left later on in the inning. The Giants never looked back after that.
Most of this team was pressing coming into this series, but a few key guys who really needed to get going did just that.
Michael Conforto, who had a forgettable return to the big apple over the weekend, connected for his first long ball and first multi-hit game with his new club. David Villar, who has Casey Schmitt breathing down his neck, launched two balls deep into the left field bleachers. One of them was a grand slam that really put an end to any hope of a White Sox comeback. Mike Yastrzemski, who had some people worried with his lackluster spring, reached base four times, which included his first home run and a double.
When this offense is really clicking, we're going to see the long ball. Hitters will work the counts into favorable spots, sit on a pitch and launch it. They'll have their share of strikeouts, but the walks and big flies should help offset those. We didn't see that much in New York, as their hitters constantly found themselves behind in counts, but we definitely saw it on Monday.
Even when they were putting the ball in play in New York, hardly anything was being hit with much authority. It wasn't so much the racking up of the strikeouts that was frustrating, but it was the fact that they weren't squaring anything up. It looked like they just weren't seeing the ball well. It has to feel good for them to have a performance like this coming off such a down weekend.
Not to be overlooked in the offensive onslaught, Anthony DeSclafini provided exactly what the Giants needed on the mound. He shut down the powerful White Sox lineup over six innings, striking out four and allowing just three total base runners on the afternoon. He very much resembled the pitcher that won 13 games and rocked a 3.17 ERA two seasons ago.
Now, just as we couldn't get too wrapped up in their series' loss verse the Yankees, we can't get too high on the offensive performance just yet. We have to keep seeing it. Kopech clearly did not have his best command today. The thing we can be optimistic about though, is they had multiple guys all get going. It wasn't just a three-run home run by one guy that made the difference. Everyone contributed in this one. That's something that should carry over the rest of this series and hopefully on into the season.
One thing to keep an eye on over the next 48 hours is how Thairo Estrada bounces back after hitting a ball over 100-mph off the bat, straight into his foot. I'm not sure he would have left the game if it wasn't the ninth inning of a 4-run ballgame, but the Giants were understandably being precautionary. We've seen players break bones in their leg or foot in similar scenarios so anytime someone leaves the game because of it you kind of hold your breath. Estrada is one guy the Giants cannot afford to lose. He's pacing the team with a .375 average and two stolen bases so far and hit his first home run of the year earlier in the game.
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