Giants Stat of the Day: April 2021
MLB.com is keeping track of a Stat of the Day for the Giants this season, highlighting a unique, interesting or fun nugget from each game.
April 30: Padres 3, Giants 2 -- Posey's red-hot HR pace
Catcher Buster Posey hit his sixth homer of the season in his 17th game played. That¡¯s two more homers than he's had through 17 games in any of his previous 11 big league seasons. He had four at this point in 2012, when he went on to win the National League MVP Award.
April 28: Giants 7, Rockies 3 -- Wood takes off
Left-hander Alex Wood was thrown out while trying to steal third base in the sixth inning, making him the first Giants pitcher to be caught stealing since Noah Lowry on June 30, 2007. The last Giants starter to steal a base was Kirk Rueter, who accomplished the feat on Aug. 29, 2003.
April 27: Rockies 7, Giants 5 (10) -- Reaching the water
Brandon Crawford tied the game in the bottom of the ninth with a leadoff home run off Rockies closer Daniel Bard that landed in McCovey Cove. It was the third career splash hit for Crawford and his first since May 14, 2014, against the Braves.
April 26: Giants 12, Rockies 0 -- Batting around
The Giants sent nine batters to the plate in each of the first two innings against Rockies left-hander Austin Gomber. The last time they accomplished the feat in consecutive innings was on April 11, 2013, in the fourth and fifth inning against the Cubs.
April 25: Giants 4, Marlins 3 -- Webb's first hit of '21 a triple
Logan Webb became the first Giants starter to collect a hit this season, helping his cause with a two-run triple in the second inning. Webb is the first Giants pitcher to triple since Tim Lincecum on June 21, 2013, against the Marlins.
April 24: Marlins 5, Giants 2 -- Yaz goes splash
Mike Yastrzemski became the first Giant to collect a splash hit in 2021 after launching a fastball from Marlins reliever Yimi Garc¨ªa into McCovey Cove for his fourth home run of the season in the ninth. It's the third splash hit for Yastrzemski in his career and his first since Sept. 25, 2020.
April 23: Giants 5, Marlins 3 -- Forever Giant
Buster Posey became the first player in the Giants' 139-year history to catch 1,000 games. Wes Westrum ranks second on the franchise's all-time list with 903 games caught for the Giants.
April 22: Giants 3, Marlins 0 -- Young gun
Hard-throwing reliever Gregory Santos struck out two in a scoreless sixth inning in his Major League debut. At 21 years, 237 days, Santos became the youngest Giant to make his debut since Madison Bumgarner in 2009.
April 21: Phillies 6, Giants 5 -- Ruf's clutch homer
Darin Ruf came through in the clutch against his former team, hitting a pinch-hit game-tying three-run homer in the seventh inning. It was the Giants' fifth pinch-hit homer this season, most in the Majors. According to the Elias Sports Bureau, San Francisco's five pinch-hit homers in just 18 games is by far the fastest the franchise has ever reached that mark. The quickest the Giants had reached five pinch-hit homers previously was 33 games in 1986.
April 20: Giants 10, Phillies 7 -- Buster power (times two)
In his three-hit game, Buster Posey had his first multi-HR effort since May 28, 2016, against the Colorado Rockies.
April 19: Giants 2, Phillies 0 -- Kapler back at .500
Gabe Kapler is the first manager to go 200-200 through his first 400 games, according to Stats, LLC. After going 161-163 over his two seasons in Philadelphia, Kapler has steered the Giants to a 39-37 record since taking over for Bruce Bochy following the 2019 campaign.
April 18: Giants 1, Marlins 0 -- Shut it down
In avoiding a sweep and picking up their third shutout victory of the year, the Giants recorded their first 1-0 win since Sept. 13, 2019, which also came against Miami.
April 17: Marlins 7, Giants 6 (10) -- Belt on base again
Brandon Belt put the Giants on the board with his second home run of the year, a leadoff shot against Marlins ace Sandy Alc¨¢ntara in the seventh inning. The solo blast extended Belt's on-base streak against the Marlins to 28 games, dating to July 19, 2014. It's the longest active streak against Miami, according to STATS, LLC.
April 16: Marlins 4, Giants 1 -- DeSclafani still impressing
Before surrendering a solo home run to Jazz Chisholm Jr., Anthony DeSclafani didn't allow an earned run in 13 consecutive innings. The streak began in the third inning of his first start this year.
April 14: Giants 3, Reds 0 -- Bullpen workhorses
Manager Gabe Kapler has leaned heavily on setup man Tyler Rogers and closer Jake McGee, who are tied for the most appearances in the Majors after pitching in eight of the Giants' first 12 games this year. Rogers, a 30-year-old submariner, also carried a heavy workload for the Giants in 2020, when he recorded a team-high 29 appearances.
April 13: Giants 7, Reds 6 -- Four four-baggers in opening inning a first for Oracle
Tuesday marked the first time four or more home runs have been hit in the first inning of a game at Oracle Park, according to the Elias Sports Bureau. Joey Votto and Mike Moustakas went deep for the Reds, while Mike Yastrzemski and Brandon Crawford homered for the Giants.
April 12: Reds 3, Giants 0 -- Bats in a funk
The Giants mustered only two hits against the Reds in Monday's 3-0 loss, dropping their team batting average to .192 on the season. Only the Cubs (.164) have fared worse over the first 10 games of the year.
April 11: Giants 4, Rockies 0 -- Rotation clicking to start season
Giants starters have thrown at least five innings and given up no more than three runs in each of the club¡¯s first nine games. Only twice in the modern era have the Giants had a longer streak to begin a season: 1937 (10) and 2002 (12).
April 10: Giants 4, Rockies 3 -- Shutting down the running game
Catcher Buster Posey threw out two runners at second base. Posey caught at least two runners stealing in a game just once in 2019, on April 16 against the Nationals. He sat out the 2020 campaign due to COVID-19 concerns.
April 9: Giants 3, Rockies 1 -- Home sweet home
The Giants improved to 39-25 in home openers since 1958, including a 15-7 mark since they moved to Oracle Park in 2000.
April 7: Giants 3, Padres 2 (10) -- Gausman's uptick in velocity
In his second start of the season, Kevin Gausman averaged 95 mph on his fastball, just a tick below his 2020 season average of 95.1 mph. Gausman's velocity was a slight concern on Opening Day, when the ace's average fastball velocity was down to 93.6 mph.
April 6: Padres 3, Giants 1 -- Flying solo
The Giant have hit 10 home runs through their first five games of the year, tied with the Reds for third in the Majors, but nine of them have been solo shots. Evan Longoria's two-run homer against the Mariners on Friday is the lone exception thus far.
April 5: Giants 3, Padres 2 -- Donnie Wheels
Donovan Solano, the reigning National League Silver Slugger Award winner at second base, is doing it all for the Giants. After singling off fellow Colombian Nabil Crismatt in the fifth inning, Solano took off for second to pick up his first stolen base since July 23, 2014.
April 3: Mariners 4, Giants 0 -- Solano's impressive stretch
Donovan Solano continued his hot start to the year, collecting a pair of hits and improving to 7-for-14 during his season-opening three-game hitting streak. For Solano, multi-hit nights and hitting streaks have become the expectation since arriving in San Francisco. Since the 2019 All-Star break, Solano leads all players with a .344 batting average (minimum 300 plate appearances).
April 2: Giants 6, Mariners 3 -- Buster's back!
Buster Posey homered for the second consecutive game, launching a solo shot to center field off of Mariners left-hander Yusei Kikuchi in the third inning. It marked the first time that Posey homered in consecutive games since May 8-10, 2017, against the Mets.
Posey, who sat out the 2020 campaign, hasn't reached double-digit home runs since '17.
April 1: Mariners 8, Giants 7 (10) -- The Barry Bonds curse?
For the 15th consecutive season, the Giants started a different player in left field on Opening Day. The unusual streak dates back to 2007, when Barry Bonds played his final season with San Francisco.
The other players on the list? Dave Roberts, Fred Lewis, Mark DeRosa, Pat Burrell, Aubrey Huff, Andres Torres, Michael Morse, Nori Aoki, ?ngel Pag¨¢n, Jarrett Parker, Hunter Pence, Connor Joe, Alex Dickerson and Austin Slater, who earned the starting nod against Mariners left-hander Marco Gonzales.