After going on a historic tear, it looked as if the Giants would finish the month of June not with a bang, but with a whimper and a three-game losing streak.
Rookie catcher Patrick Bailey had other ideas.
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With the Giants trailing by two runs in the eighth inning, Bailey crushed a go-ahead three-run homer that led to an eventual 5-4 win over the Mets at Citi Field.
Alex Cobb (ND, 5 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 2 ER, 3 K) returned from the injured list and pitched well despite working through traffic on multiple occasions, but the Giants' offense was unable to generate much until the eighth-inning comeback.
Here are three takeaways from Giants' series-opening win over the Mets.
Where there's smoke, there's fire
San Francisco Giants
Thick smoke covered the skies above Citi Field as New York continues to deal with the effects of the Canadian wildfires up north. The scene was ugly and so was the Giants' ability to generate offense for seven innings.
San Francisco scored one run each in the two losses to the Blue Jays on Wednesday and Thursday and seven combined runs in the last four games. The Giants' offense struggled for most of the game before (surprise, surprise) a late-game rally powered them to victory.
With the Giants trailing 1-0, Brandon Crawford tied the game in the top of the second with an RBI single. Wilmer Flores blasted a solo home run against his former team in the top of the fifth, but that would be it for the Giants' offense until the top of the eighth.
Trailing 4-2 with one out in the inning, Joc Pederson reached on a fielding error and J.D. Davis walked, putting two runners on for Bailey, who gave the Giants a 5-4 lead with one heroic swing of the bat.
Bailey's heroics wouldn't end there. Up by one run in the bottom of the ninth, Bailey threw out Starling Marte attempting to steal second base, which would have put the tying run in scoring position for the Mets with one out. The play wasn't even close, which is extremely impressive against a runner like Marte.
That'll be on highlight shows
Just one day after Pederson had the time of his life in left field against the Blue Jays, Giants outfielders continued to put on a show in the series opener against the Mets.
Luis Matos made an impressive diving catch to rob Jeff McNeil of a hit in the bottom of the third before Blake Sabol made a sliding catch to rob Pete Alonso of a hit one batter later.
Fast forward two innings and Matos ran down a line drive to deep center field off the bat of Francisco Lindor to make an impressive play on the warning track.
Rotation resurgence
Fans of traditional baseball can rejoice. The Giants' starting rotation is healthy, which means bullpen games should be few and far between for the time being. One would think.
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Cobb made his return from the injured list on Friday and pitched well despite lasting just five innings. With the emergence of Keaton Winn, who impressed in his first MLB start on Thursday, plus the recent returns of Ross Stripling and Alex Wood, San Francisco's starting five (or six) -- whatever that combination might be -- now has plenty of options moving forward.
There's no denying the Giants' impressive track record in "bullpen games," but when relievers are starting three games through one turn of the rotation, something is wrong.