Now: Giants aim to recover from their “poor trip,” which resulted in a defeat to Rox

Denver What distinguishes a 3-7 record from a 4-6 record?

There’s only one game, of course. But one game meant a lot to the Giants on Thursday, another chilly day in Colorado.

Manager Bob Melvin stated, “Today would have been a big swing game for us,” following San Francisco’s defeat at Coors Field in the series finale against the Rockies.

“We should have driven 4-6 [during this road trip].” That’s not really noteworthy, but the trip from 3 to 7 is not good.

The Giants would prefer to forget their longest road trip of the season because, well, it was a terrible one. They lost two of their three games at Fenway Park against the Red Sox, lost four games at Citizens Bank Park to the Phillies, and, although winning the first two games of their series against Colorado, lost the series finale with a lackluster effort from everyone.

In light of all of this, where do the Giants stand heading into their next nine-game homestand against the Reds on Friday?

Here is a statistical analysis of the road trip and its implications for San Francisco in a season that started off full of promise with the additions of Blake Snell, Matt Chapman, Jorge Soler, and Jung Hoo Lee:

2.1 The Giants knew they needed to fire up their bats as soon as they arrived in Boston on April 30 to begin a three-game series against the Red Sox. San Francisco’s offense had not performed much better in 2023, despite signing some prominent bats via free agency. The team had finished at the bottom of baseball in most offensive metrics, ranking 28th in batting average (.235), 27th in slugging percentage (.383), and 24th in runs scored (674), to mention a few.

It was much better as of April 30 (.245) in terms of batting average, but it had the same slugging percentage (.383) and was placed 22nd with 116 runs scored. With the exception of the two victories over the Rockies, the team’s position declined during the ten-game road trip. The Giants’ lineup averaged 2.1 runs per game.

5.
The Giants, who were 14–15 heading into the just concluded trip, were one game below.500. They were five games behind, at 17–22, as they boarded their trip from Denver back home.

Melvin remarked, “We come back a lot worse and we left one game under.500.”

7.28
The Giants’ starting rotation was expected to be a strength in 2024, especially with the addition of Snell to a group that was already anchored by Logan Webb, the runner-up for the 2023 NL Cy Young Award. However, San Francisco’s starters had an ERA of 7.28 due to Snell’s injury, which prevented him from playing for the duration of the road trip, and Webb’s poor performance in two of his shorter appearances.

Keaton Winn, who gave up 12 earned runs in 4 1/3 innings while on the trip, was largely to blame. This includes the seven runs he allowed the Rockies on Thursday over 3 2/3 innings.

In the fourth inning, Colorado bats shocked Winn by launching six consecutive hits, the biggest of which was a three-run home run by Brenton Doyle that made the score 6-1.

Regarding Thursday’s tough performance, Winn stated, “I just tried to enter the zone for a strike, and suddenly everything was floating up instead of down where it normally is.” “And they were having early swings.”