Giants Stat of the Day: May 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.
May 31: Giants 6, Angels 1 -- Giants powering up
The Giants, who rank second in the Majors with 78 home runs this year, have hit at least two homers in six consecutive games, their longest such streak since July 24-29, 2001.
May 30: Giants 5, Dodgers 4 -- Getting to Kershaw early
Mauricio Dubón's two-run home run capped the Giants' first three-run first inning against Dodgers left-hander Clayton Kershaw, who entered Sunday with a 1.80 ERA in 49 career starts against San Francisco.
May 29: Giants 11, Dodgers 6 -- Offensive onslaught
The Giants' 11 runs were the most they’ve scored at Dodger Stadium since Sept. 14, 2013, when they put up 19 runs.
May 28: Giants 8, Dodgers 5 (10) -- Busting out
Buster Posey launched a tiebreaking, three-run blast off Blake Treinen in the top of the eighth inning to collect his 150th career home run, which ranks 11th in San Francisco history. It was the 10th homer of the year for Posey, putting him in double digits for the first time since 2017.
May 27: Dodgers 4, Giants 3 -- Can't beat L.A.
The Giants are 0-4 against the Dodgers and 30-16 against everyone else this season. The Dodgers have won 14 of their last 18 games against the Giants dating back to September 2019, outscoring San Francisco 104-43 over that span.
May 26: Giants 5, D-backs 4 -- Slater goes the distance
Austin Slater came off the bench to crush a game-tying, two-run home run off D-backs left-hander Alex Young that traveled an estimated 460 feet in the eighth inning at Chase Field. Slater is the first Giants player to hit multiple home runs of at least 450 feet in a single season since Statcast began tracking in 2015.
May 25: Giants 8, D-backs 0 -- Longo goes long
Evan Longoria crushed a three-run home run off Corbin Martin in the third inning that traveled a projected 444 feet out to center field. It was Longoria's third-longest homer since Statcast began tracking in 2015 and his longest as a Giant.
May 23: Dodgers 11, Giants 5 -- Outlier for DeSclafani
Anthony DeSclafani, who entered Sunday with a 2.03 ERA, allowed a career-high 10 runs over 2 2/3 innings in his shortest start of the year. His previous career high was nine runs allowed on Aug. 13, 2020, against the Pirates.
May 22: Dodgers 6, Giants 3 -- Blast from the past
At 37 years and 118 days old, Scott Kazmir became the oldest pitcher to start a game for the Giants since Tim Hudson, who was 40 years and 79 days old when he faced the Dodgers on Oct. 1, 2015.
May 21: Dodgers 2, Giants 1 -- Wearing them down
One of the defining characteristics of the Giants' offense has been their ability to take quality at-bats and wear down opposing pitchers. While they produced only two hits and one unearned run over 6 1/3 innings against Trevor Bauer, they forced the reigning National League Cy Young Award winner to throw 126 pitches. Through their first 45 games of the year, no opposing starting pitcher has completed seven innings against the Giants. Bauer, Austin Gomber, Yu Darvish and Sandy Alcantara have come the closest, each delivering 6 1/3-inning outings against San Francisco.
May 20: Giants 19, Reds 4 -- A high-water mark for offense
The 19 runs were the most scored by any MLB team in a game so far this season. They were the most by the Giants since the club scored 23 runs against the Rockies at Coors Field on Sept. 1, 2020. Coincidentally, Brandon Crawford had six RBIs in both blowouts.
May 19: Giants 4, Reds 0 -- Gausman hits personal K milestone
With a strikeout of Kyle Farmer in the bottom of the fifth inning of Wednesday's 4-0 win over the Reds, Kevin Gausman notched the 1,000th strikeout of his career.
May 18: Giants 4, Reds 2 -- Craw's Bondsian power surge
Brandon Crawford crushed his team-high 10th home run of the season, a solo shot off former San Francisco reliever Heath Hembree in the seventh inning. According to Stats, LLC, Crawford is the first Giants player to collect at least 10 homers through his first 36 games since Barry Bonds, who hit 11 in 2007. Crawford is also the first regular shortstop to hit at least 10 through 36 games for the Giants since Dick Bartell in 1937.
May 17: Giants 6, Reds 3 -- Still at the top
The Giants (25-16) have been in first place in the National League West for 22 consecutive days, their longest stretch of days in first place since a 93-day streak from mid-May to mid-August 2016. For reference, San Francisco only spent three days in first place from 2017-20, according to Stats, LLC.
May 16: Giants 4, Pirates 1 -- Wood stays unbeaten
Left-hander Alex Wood improved to 5-0 after striking out six over six innings of one-run ball, lowering his ERA to 1.75 on the season. Wood is the first Giants pitcher since Madison Bumgarner in 2012 to win five of his first six starts, and he's the first since Barry Zito in 2010 to go undefeated over that span.
May 15: Pirates 8, Giants 6 -- Ruf steps up in the outfield
The Giants' 6-2 win over the Pirates was a rather eventful night for right fielder Darin Ruf. He started the scoring with a 415-foot home run to center field in the first inning, then recorded his first outfield assist in over seven years (Sept. 15, 2013) in the fifth inning. Ruf didn't stop there -- in the sixth inning, he made a play on a long single from Bryan Reynolds and threw him out at second for his second outfield assist in the game. It was his first multi-assist game as an outfielder in his career.
May 14: Pirates 3, Giants 2 (11) -- Five-star catch for Duggar
Steven Duggar raced into the right-center-field gap to make a fantastic diving catch that robbed Kevin Newman of a hit in the fourth inning. Duggar had only a 15% catch probability on the play, as he had to cover 48 feet in only 3.3 seconds, according to Statcast. It was the first-career five-star catch for Duggar, who also has four four-star catches under his belt.
May 13: Giants 3, Pirates 1 -- Snapping the drought
Steven Duggar slugged a solo shot off Pirates starter Wil Crowe to put the Giants on the board in the fifth inning, collecting his first home run since June 11, 2019, against the Padres.
May 11: Giants 4, Rangers 2 -- 24 years old, just getting started
Young Logan Webb notched his first career double-digit-strikeout game at 24 years, 174 days old. Webb is the youngest Giants pitcher to record 10 or more K's in a game since Madison Bumgarner on Sept. 19, 2013, when the latter was 24 years, 49 days old.
May 10: Giants 3, Rangers 1 -- Interleague dominance
Since 2000, the Giants have posted an 18-7 (.720) record against the Rangers in the regular season, the second-best record by a National League club in an Interleague matchup, according to STATS, LLC. Only the Marlins' 20-7 (.741) mark against the Orioles has been better over that span.
May 9: Padres 11, Giants 1 -- Position player pitching
Giants outfielder Darin Ruf added some levity to the blowout loss, making his first career pitching appearance in the ninth inning. Ruf threw 21 pitches, topping out at 77.5 mph, and gave up a pair of runs on an RBI double by Jorge Mateo and a sacrifice fly by Ha-Seong Kim. He became the first Giants position player to pitch since former catcher Tyler Heineman on Aug. 16, 2020, against the A’s.
May 8: Giants 7, Padres 1 -- Slater's mustache power
Austin Slater capped the scoring by crushing a towering two-run home run to dead center field off Nabil Crismatt in the eighth inning. Slater's blast traveled an estimated 456 feet, making it the third-longest home run hit by a Giants player at Oracle Park since Statcast was introduced in 2015.
May 7: Giants 5, Padres 4 -- Posey goes oppo
Buster Posey opened the scoring with a two-run home run to right field off Padres left-hander Blake Snell in the third inning. It was the third opposite-field home run Posey has hit at Oracle Park and the first since July 23, 2012, when he was in the midst of his National League MVP campaign.
May 5: Rockies 6, Giants 5 -- Close game par for the course
Twenty-four of the Giants’ 31 games this season have been decided by three runs or fewer. The club is 13-11 in those games.
May 4: Giants 12, Rockies 4 -- Strong out of the gate
The Giants erupted for 10 runs on eight hits and two walks in the first inning of the first game of Tuesday's doubleheader at Coors Field. It marked the first time the Giants scored 10 runs in the first inning since June 29, 1967, against the Cardinals, when they scored 11 in the first -- nine of them against Hall of Famer Bob Gibson.
May 2: Giants 7, Padres 1 -- Tauchman in the HR column
Mike Tauchman notched his first home run with the Giants in the third inning, when he crushed a three-run shot to right field off Padres right-hander Joe Musgrove. It was Tauchman's first home run since September 8, 2019, when he went deep in the Yankees' 10-5 win over the Red Sox.
May 1: Padres 6, Giants 2 -- Rare skid
The Giants lost back-to-back games for only the second time this season. Their first losing streak of the season came on April 16-17 against the Marlins.