SAN FRANCISCO — This winning streak is curing a lot of ills, and you can add this to the list: For the first time this season, the Giants got a win out of their No. 1 starter spot.
Madison Bumgarner didn’t pitch in a win before going down on his dirt bike and Ty Blach suffered the same fate through four starts. He helped turn that around Tuesday with a strong performance that was backed by a couple of Brandon Belt runs. The Giants won 2-1, extending their winning streak to five games. They have clinched a second straight series victory over the Dodgers.
Blach got out of a couple of early jams and he was temporarily rewarded for it. Blach worked around two walks in the first and two hits in the fourth, and in the bottom of that inning he got a lead when Belt hit his eighth homer. The advantage wouldn’t last long. Chris Taylor led off the sixth by driving a 2-0 fastball into the net beyond center field.
The Giants manufactured a go-ahead run in the sixth, and Belt was again in the middle of it. He got a shift-busting infield single and went to second on a wild pitch. Buster Posey’s grounder to the right side advanced Belt, who scored on Brandon Crawford’s single to center.
Blach went back out and retired the side, finishing with seven strong innings. He threw a career-high 109 pitches.
Starting pitching report: Bochy is pushing his starters hard during this run, and it’s working. Starting with Johnny Cueto on Friday, the starting pitchers have thrown 119, 120, 114, 112 and 109 pitches.
Bullpen report: Mullet-less Hunter Strickland pitched a scoreless eighth, with a little help from the Brandons.
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At the plate: The Giants have gotten either a Belt homer or a Posey homer in each of the last nine games. All of them have been solo shots.
In the field: Starting at second base for the first time in the big leagues, Christian Arroyo did a solid Joe Panik impersonation. He threw home in the
Attendance: The Giants announced a crowd of 41,366 human beings who brought the “rally lights” out in the sixth. I wouldn’t recommend bringing anything from April into this streak, but you guys do you.
Up next: Clayton Kershaw makes his 397th career appearance in a Giants-Dodgers series. He’ll face Johnny Cueto.
