This story was excerpted from Maria Guardado’s Giants Beat newsletter. To read the full newsletter, click here. And subscribe to get it regularly in your inbox.

Defense was a glaring weakness for the Giants last season, but they’ve managed to turn that liability into a strength in 2023.

After finishing 28th in the Majors with -33 Outs Above Average in 2022, the Giants now rank fifth with +18 OAA this year, which helped the club put together a 7-2 homestand against the A’s, Red Sox and D-backs despite a lack of consistent offense. San Francisco has a .993 fielding percentage since July 1, the second-best mark in the Majors behind the Twins (.997).

“What I see is a team that’s playing really good defense and pretty consistent defense,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “In the biggest moments, we’re making plays. We’re making really good decisions. I think despite our inability to get that big hit right now and break the game open, we’re doing a really nice job when the moment counts on defense."

The Giants attempted to upgrade their defense by targeting up-the-middle players over the offseason, but those efforts seemed to fall short after their agreement with former Platinum Glove winner Carlos Correa collapsed over medical concerns.

Still, the club has now filled that void through the arrival of several glove-first prospects, including catcher Patrick Bailey, infielder Casey Schmitt and center fielder Luis Matos. Bailey, who picked off Geraldo Perdomo at first base to end Tuesday’s 4-3 win over the D-backs, is already establishing himself as one of the top defensive catchers in baseball, as he leads all Major League backstops with +14 Defensive Runs Saved despite ranking 27th in innings caught, according to FanGraphs.

The Giants have also tried to reduce their exposure by shifting Joc Pederson from the outfield to designated hitter and slotting Wilmer Flores into more of a corner infield role to hide his limited range at second base.

With a pitching staff that entered Saturday with the highest groundball rate (48.5 percent) in the Majors, the Giants know their success will be closely tied to their ability to convert enough balls into outs. They enjoyed one of their best all-around defensive games in Wednesday’s 4-2 win over the D-backs, with shortstop Brandon Crawford, second baseman Isan Díaz and Pederson each making nice plays to back a quality start from Logan Webb.

Crawford made a diving stop up the middle and threw from his knees to retire the speedy Corbin Carroll at first base in the first inning. Díaz ranged to his left to corral a grounder from Jace Peterson and then made a spinning throw to LaMonte Wade Jr. at first to end the fourth. Pederson, making only his fifth start of the season in left field, also made a sliding catch on Alek Thomas’ sinking liner in the fifth.

“[Bench coach] Kai [Correa] was super excited because I don’t think I gave up a ground-ball base hit,” Webb said. “That has to be a first for me. They played amazing. … Those guys go out there and bust their tails off every day. I think it shows. I’ve heard it in here, but I think we’ve been the best defense in baseball over the past month or so. Those guys put a lot of work in. It’s exciting obviously as a pitcher, especially a contact pitcher.”

“I think we’ve played good defense a lot this homestand,” Crawford said. “That’s what we have to do, especially when we’re not getting guys in when they’re in scoring position, unfortunately. We have to pitch well and play good defense. We’ve been doing that lately.”