SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants spent the last week picking up games on the two teams that were heavily favored to win the NL West before the season. On Friday night, they picked up a game on the team that's actually in first place.
A five-run fifth inning was capped by a Patrick Bailey two-run homer and led the Giants to an 8-5 win over the Arizona Diamondbacks, their 11th in the last 12 games. With the win, San Francisco moved just 2 1/2 games out of first in the division.
In the middle innings of a back-and-forth game, both lineups showed the ability that has allowed them to jump ahead of the Dodgers and Padres early on. The Diamondbacks have plenty of speed and athleticism at the top of their lineup, and they jumped ahead with two singles, a double and a fielder's choice. The Giants have spent the last month erasing leads, and this one didn't last long.
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J.D. Davis' double tied the game in the bottom of the fifth and Michael Conforto followed with a two-run double that put the Giants on top. Bailey broke the game open with his fourth homer of the season.
That had to feel like Christmas and his birthday rolled into one for Logan Webb, who hasn't been blessed with much run support this season. After some long early innings, Webb made it through seven, earning his seventh win of the year.
Here are the takeaways from a win that pushes the Giants to 43-33 this season:
Just Needed The Highest Level
San Francisco Giants
Bailey hit .131 against lefties last season and was just 3-for-18 against them in the minors this season at the time of his promotion. But in the big leagues, the switch-hitter looks ready to mash from both sides.
A day after he had two hits off Blake Snell, Bailey crushed a blast off Joe Mantiply, who has had a rough season but was an All-Star in 2022. Mantiply hung a sinker and Bailey hit a 106.6 mph rocket to left-center. It was his fourth-best exit velocity in the big leagues, with one of the other three being a homer off Marlins lefty Jesus Luzardo that was his first in the big leagues.
Bailey added a walk and a single. Through 27 big league games, he's batting .330 with a .921 OPS.
Double The Fun
It's been a quiet month for Conforto after a huge May, but he broke out in a big way on Friday night. Conforto had been hitting .161 in June, but he went the other way in the third inning for a two-run double. Two innings later, he yanked a hanging curve from Mantiply down the right field line.
The two doubles and four RBI were both highs for Conforto as a Giant, and they kept an impressive run going. The team is 20-4 this season when he drives in a run.
Longo Gone
Evan Longoria didn't hide his intentions at the end of last season, saying that if the Giants didn't bring him back, he wanted to go to either Tampa Bay or Arizona. He came up with the Rays and now lives in Phoenix, and it was important to him that he could spend more time with his three young children.
The Giants let Longoria go to prioritize David Villar at third base, and it has worked out for both parties, albeit in a surprising way.
Davis has been the one to capitalize at third base in San Francisco, turning into an All-Star candidate. In Phoenix, Longoria's overall numbers don't jump off the page, but he said before the game that he's thrilled to be playing at home and his family is enjoying every second of it.
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Longoria didn't get a win his first night back, but he did earn some bragging rights in some of the group chats he's still a part of. He hit a 436-foot bomb off Webb in his first at-bat back at Oracle Park, and his former teammates didn't seem to mind too much. Webb stifled a grin as Longoria rounded the bases for the 10th time this year.