7/2/2023 0 Comments Sf giants magic numberHe’s hitting the ball as hard as he can with the right angles.” The bat is whistling through the zone, he’s turning up underneath it well and instead of smothering it, he’s getting the sweet spot to just underneath the baseball. “He’s on time and that’s allowing him to make really good decisions. “The lower half is really firing right now,” Kapler said of Belt. and ranks behind only superstar outfielders Juan Soto of the Nationals and Bryce Harper of the Phillies. Of players with at least 500 combined plate appearances over the last two seasons, Belt’s 158 weighted runs created plus (wRC+), a stat that measures runs created and adjusts for external factors such as ballpark, is tied for third in the majors with Padres’ shortstop Fernando Tatís Jr. Since the Giants hired Kapler and brought three new hitting coaches –Donnie Ecker, Justin Viele and Dustin Lind– into the fold, Belt has been one of the most productive hitters in the majors. Saturday’s game marked the 16th time in the last 19 games the Giants have scored at least six runs. The Giants added three more runs in the eighth inning as Duggar blooped a RBI single into left field before Mike Yastrzemski emerged from the bench as a pinch-hitter and capped a nine-pitch at-bat with a two-run single into right field. The 29 homers are the highest single-season total for a Giants player since Bonds hit 45 in 2004 and have come in a season when Belt has missed nearly two full months of games due to injuries. The Giants didn’t score in any of their next three innings against Gray, but after Steven Duggar singled in the fifth and pinch-hitter Donovan Solano reached on a hit by pitch, Belt left no doubt when he launched the Giants’ record-setting homer 421 feet for his 29th of the year. “I’d say he’s given the entire offense a boost of confidence and the way he’s carrying himself right now, he knows he’s a dangerous hitter at the plate,” Kapler said. “It’s pretty cool obviously, but it says a lot about our approach and making sure we get our pitch and that’s what leads to those homers for us. “It means a lot,” Belt said of the record. Saturday’s results gave Gabe Kapler’s club a 2.0-game lead in the division and reduced the Giants’ magic number to clinch their first NL West crown since 2012 to six with seven games left to play.īelt, who has taken to referring to himself as “The Captain,” crushed a pair of homers off Rockies starter Jon Gray including a go-ahead three-run shot in the fifth inning that marked the Giants’ 236th home run of the season, surpassing the previous single-season franchise record set in 2001 when Bonds carved out another place in the history books with 73 homers. The Giants aren’t chasing regular season accomplishments, but they’ve stockpiled them anyway en route to winning their 101st game of the year on Saturday with a 7-2 victory over the Colorado Rockies.Ī dramatic race for the National League West title between the Giants (101-54) and the Dodgers (99-56) took a significant turn in San Francisco’s favor as Los Angeles lost 7-2 to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field. The Barry Bonds era ended long ago, but first baseman Brandon Belt is doing his best impression of the power-hitter that anchored a 103-win 1993 club, a 235-homer 2001 team and a 100-win squad in 2003. DENVER - A Giants team led by a left-handed hitting slugger is setting records and charging toward the postseason.
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