Giants Stat of the Day: August 2021

September 1st, 2021

MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Giants this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.

Aug. 31: Brewers 6, Giants 2 -- Quintana's dominant debut
José Quintana, who pitched 3 1/3 innings of scoreless relief, posted a called-strike-plus-whiff rate of 41.6 percent in his debut for the Giants, the highest he's had in any of his 25 outings this season.

Aug. 30: Brewers 3, Giants 1 -- Much-needed length
Jarlin García pitched 3 2/3 scoreless innings of relief in the Giants' bullpen game against the Brewers. It was his first time pitching at least three innings in an outing since May 25, 2019, against the Nationals.

Aug. 29: Braves 9, Giants 0 -- Speed surge for Wade
LaMonte Wade Jr. stole second base in the third inning, marking the second straight game in which he has swiped a bag. His two previous steals before this series came 23 games apart, on June 16 and July 22.

Aug. 28: Giants 5, Braves 0 -- Hyper-efficient Webb
Forget an immaculate inning, Logan Webb threw a three-pitch inning in the fourth. He hit Travis d'Arnaud with a pitch, enticed Adam Duvall into a 4-6-3 double play and got Joc Pederson to fly out. It was the ninth three-pitch inning in Giants history and the sixth in the San Francisco era. Madison Bumgarner was the last Giant to do so on Aug. 14, 2010.

Aug. 27: Braves 6, Giants 5 -- Posey launches one
Buster Posey's first-inning home run had a 44-degree launch angle, according to Statcast, and .040 expected batting average. He's the fourth Giants hitter this season (Brandon Crawford, May 14; LaMonte Wade Jr., May 31; Wilmer Flores, July 31) to hit a home run that high.

Aug. 26: Giants 3, Mets 2 -- Álvarez's scoreless streak
Left-hander José Álvarez helped preserve a one-run lead for the Giants by retiring Jeff McNeil to escape a bases-loaded jam in the eighth inning. Álvarez has not allowed a run in his past 20 appearances and has stranded 24 of his 30 inherited runners this season.

Aug. 25: Giants 3, Mets 2 -- Winning season guaranteed
At 82-44, the Giants are assured of their first winning season since 2016. They've never had five consecutive losing seasons in their 138-year history.

Aug. 24: Giants 8, Mets 0 -- Powering up
Before Brandon Crawford came through with an RBI single in the fourth inning, the Giants had scored 15 consecutive runs via the long ball. Their last non-homer run prior to Tuesday came in the 11th inning of the Giants' loss to the Mets on Aug. 18 at Oracle Park.

Aug. 22: Giants 2, Athletics 1 -- Webb on a roll
Logan Webb has posted a 1.63 ERA over his last 12 starts, with the Giants going 11-1 over that span. The right-hander has held opponents to two runs or fewer in all 12 outings, tied for the second-longest streak by a Giants starter since 1901 with Kevin Gausman (April 19 - June 23, 2021). Ferdie Schupp has the all-time record, with 16 such performances from 1916-17.

Aug. 21: Giants 6, Athletics 5 -- Belt finally solves lefty Chafin
Brandon Belt and Darin Ruf went back-to-back off A's lefty Andrew Chafin in the seventh inning, snapping Chafin's streak of 43 consecutive games without allowing a home run this season. Belt entered Saturday 0-for-16 lifetime against Chafin, a former D-backs reliever who came over to the A's from the Cubs ahead of last month's Trade Deadline. “I looked up at the scoreboard and saw Belt’s history against Chafin,” Giants manger Gabe Kapler said. “I actually leaned over and said something to [bench coach Kai Correa] and sure enough, the next pitch he put in the seats.”

Aug. 20: Athletics 4, Giants 1 -- A rare skid
The Giants have lost back-to-back games for the first time since dropping two straight to the Pirates on July 23-24.

Aug 18: Mets 6, Giants 2 (12 innings) -- Cream of the crop
The Giants (78-43) continue to sport the best record in baseball. They have held the National League's best record for 95 consecutive days, their longest such streak since 1954, when they held the top spot for 104 days.

Aug. 17: Giants 3, Mets 2 -- Webb straight dealing
After holding the Mets to two runs over a career-high 7 1/3 innings, Logan Webb improved to 6-0 with a 1.64 ERA and 65 strikeouts over his last 11 starts dating back to May 11. He's held opposing hitters to a .194 clip in that span and the Giants are 10-1 over those 11 contests.

Aug. 16: Giants 7, Mets 5 -- Crawford on fire
Since July 1, Brandon Crawford is batting .427 (47-for-110), the best mark in the Majors. His batting average is up to .306 on the season, the sixth-highest figure among qualified National League hitters.

Aug. 15: Giants 5, Rockies 2 -- Knock on Wood
The Giants are now 11-0 when left-hander Alex Wood has taken the mound following a loss this season, with the 30-year-old veteran earning the win in nine of those 11 games.

Aug. 14: Rockies 4, Giants 1 -- Getting the band back together
With Evan Longoria returning to action, the Giants officially had every Opening Day position player back on their active roster for the first time since April 21, minus Mauricio Dubón, who is currently at Triple-A Sacramento. Entering Saturday, the Giants had lost 1,098 player-games due to injury in 2021, the seventh-most in the Majors, according to Stats LLC.

Aug. 13: Giants 5, Rockies 4 -- Spreading the HR wealth
Wilmer Flores hit his 15th home run on Friday, becoming the sixth different Giants player to reach the threshold this season. It's the fifth time in the San Francisco era that the Giants have had six different players with 15 or more homers, joining the 1962, 1987, 1999 and 2002 clubs. No San Francisco-era team has had more than six players hit 15 homers in a single season.

Aug. 12: Giants 7, Rockies 0 -- Webb on a roll
With his six shutout innings against the Rockies, Logan Webb improved to 5-0 with a 1.53 ERA over his last 10 starts. Only Mets ace Jacob deGrom (1.35 ERA) has a better mark over that span.

Aug 11: Giants 7, D-backs 2 -- Giants own the D-backs
By sweeping this two-game series, the Giants improved to 14-2 against the D-backs this season. The last time San Francisco won 14 or more games against a single opponent in a season was 2012, when they went 14-4 against the Rockies.

Aug 10: Giants 8, D-backs 7 -- Mr. 2,000
Third-base coach Ron Wotus now has 2,000 victories with the Giants. Wotus, 60, joined the Giants' Major League coaching staff in 1998 and is the longest-tenured coach in franchise history. Manager Gabe Kapler said the team celebrated the milestone with a toast after the game. "He obviously gave all the credit to the players, and I understand why," Kapler said. "But he has had a huge part in the development of many of the players in that room and many of the players that have been so instrumental to our success thus far this season. Ron Wotus' fingerprints are all over the success of this franchise, and I think he really deserves to be celebrated tonight."

Aug 8: Giants 5, Brewers 4 -- Belted them out
Four of Brandon Belt's five hits since returning from the IL last week have been home runs. Overall, he's hit safely in 12 straight games, setting a new career high.

Aug. 7: Giants 9, Brewers 6 (11) -- 70 wins in the books for Giants
With Saturday's win over the Brewers, the Giants hit the 70-victory mark in 111 games, the fewest since the 1993 Giants reached 70 wins in their 105th game.

Aug. 6: Brewers 2, Giants 1 (10) -- Bryant's luck turns vs. Burnes
Kris Bryant's sixth-inning single marked his first hit against Milwaukee right-hander Corbin Burnes this season. Bryant went 0-for-6 with three strikeouts against Burnes in two games with the Cubs.

Aug. 5: Giants 5, D-backs 4 (10) -- An unlikely comeback
Thursday marked the first time the Giants won when trailing by four or more runs in the ninth inning or later since April 18, 1993, when they rallied to beat the Braves, 13-12, in 11 innings, according to the Elias Sports Bureau.

Aug. 4: Giants 7, D-backs 1 -- Peak Donnie Barrels
Donovan Solano went 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBIs on Wednesday to collect his fifth multi-hit performance in his last six games. The 33-year-old veteran is batting .440 (11-for-25) over that stretch, raising his batting average to .281 on the season.

Aug. 3: D-backs 3, Giants 1 -- From friend to foe
Former Giants ace Madison Bumgarner picked up his first career win against his old club by tossing seven innings of one-run ball at Chase Field. Bumgarner faced the Giants for the first time on Sept. 5, 2020, at Oracle Park, but he was charged with the loss after giving up two runs over four innings. Brandon Crawford and Buster Posey, who were both out of the Giants' lineup on Tuesday, have yet to face Bumgarner, who joined the D-backs on a five-year, $85 million deal following the 2019 season.

Aug. 2: Giants 11, D-backs 8 (10) -- Two-strike homer kings
Mike Yastrzemski put the Giants on the board by crushing a two-run home run on a 1-2 fastball from D-backs right-hander Taylor Widener in the third. Yastrzemski certainly isn't afraid of hitting with two strikes, as 11 of his 18 home runs this year have come in such counts. The Giants have hit 64 home runs with two strikes this year, the most in the Majors. The Braves rank a distant second with 54.

Aug. 1: Giants 5, Astros 3 -- Making an impression
Following in the footsteps of former Cubs teammates Anthony Rizzo and Javier Báez, Kris Bryant homered in his Giants debut against the Astros on Sunday. Bryant, Báez and Rizzo became the first trio in the Modern Era to each homer in their debut with a new team after playing on the same club earlier that season, according to STATS. Bryant also became the 50th Giants player since at least 1901 to homer in his Giants debut and the first since Alex Dickerson on June 21, 2019, at Arizona.