Rested Longoria gets big hits vs. D-backs

The Giants were hoping a two-day break would help revitalize slumping third baseman Evan Longoria. The respite seemed to work as intended.

Longoria crushed a towering three-run home run as part of a three-hit night to help the Giants snap a three-game skid with an 8-0 win over the D-backs in Tuesday’s series opener at Chase Field.

Brandon Crawford opened the scoring with a bases-clearing double in the first inning, and Longoria made it 6-0 with his sixth home run of the year in the third. Longoria, who reached base four times and finished a triple shy of the cycle, also added an RBI double off Arizona reliever Riley Smith in the seventh.

Kevin Gausman didn’t have his crispest command and was unable to complete six innings for the first time this season, but he still struck out nine over five shutout innings to lower his ERA to 1.53, the fourth-lowest mark in the Majors. Gausman threw 97 pitches and allowed at least one runner to reach base in each of his five innings, but he avoided damage by holding the D-backs 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position.

Longoria emerged as one of the Giants’ hottest bats at the outset of the year, but the 35-year-old veteran ran into some tough luck and slowed down once the calendar flipped to May. After batting .292 with a .949 OPS and four home runs in April, Longoria hit only .194 with a .573 OPS and one homer over his first 19 games this month.

“Obviously, it's tough,” Longoria said. “You want to get hits, but I think we all have to remind ourselves sometimes that this game is hard, and the results don't come easy. It's nice when you have a night like tonight, when you hit the ball hard and they fall. It makes all the hard work and adjustments and stuff that we’re making in the cage on a daily basis worth it.”

Entering Tuesday, Longoria ranked first among National League hitters with a 95.9 mph average exit velocity this year, but most of his hard contact had come on the ground during his recent rough spell at the plate, resulting in balls that were more easily converted into outs because of the rise of sophisticated shifts and defensive positioning around the league.

“One of the things that we know with Longoria is when he's elevating the ball, particularly to the middle and to the right side of the field, it’s when he’s at his best,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “When you're seeing a lot of hard ground balls to the left side, his swing is just not where he wants it to be. Today was an indication that he worked to stay inside and through the baseball. He did that very well tonight.”

The extra downtime probably didn’t hurt, either. The Giants haven’t been able to rest Longoria as much as they would have liked, as two of their backup options at third base -- Tommy La Stella and Wilmer Flores -- are currently on the injured list. Consequently, Longoria appeared in 41 of the Giants’ first 46 games before sitting out Sunday’s series finale against the Dodgers. Coupled with Monday’s off-day, Longoria received 48 hours to rest and recover and came back looking refreshed on Tuesday.

In the third, Longoria hammered a 95.4 mph fastball from D-backs right-hander Corbin Martin 444 feet out to center field for his third-longest homer since Statcast began tracking in 2015. His three hits had exit velocities of 108.2 mph, 108.3 mph and 104.5 mph, a sign of the quality of contact Longoria has consistently been delivering this season.

“I think it's important that we continue to find ways to rest Evan,” Kapler said. “All of our veteran players need to get days off. It's just one of those things that we have to be really disciplined [about], even when sometimes they're going to be the best option in the lineup. We're just going to do it anyway.”

Kapler practiced that restraint on Sunday, when he decided to sit Longoria and Buster Posey against left-hander Julio Urías, even though the Giants were attempting to fend off a three-game sweep at the hands of the Dodgers. The Giants have the oldest lineup in the Majors, so Longoria said he understands that those breaks will be crucial to keeping him and the rest of the club’s veterans fresh and productive over the entire 162-game season.

“We've got four months of baseball left, so I think trying to keep that in perspective is key,” Longoria said. “It’s obviously very tough to sit on the bench and not be able to contribute, but I think long term, if we can as a group have all of our veteran players out there for 145-plus games, then we're going to be in a pretty good spot. I think if we start to stretch ourselves a little more than that, then we may see a little bit of a dip in production.

“I know that there will be times during the season that it will probably be time for maybe a half day off or something, and I'll be going good, and I won't take that. And then there'll be the days that are a much-needed blow when I'm struggling and 0-for-my-last-15, and it kind of just helps reset the system.”