by
Crawnik
Greetings TWG family! Wow, what a World Series, huh? Finally, Dusty got the monkey off his back and can now celebrate being a World Series winning manager. Now that we won’t have MLB Baseball until the last week of February 2023, when exhibition games start up, it’s time to relive some of our Giants highlights for the month of June. This is a month affectionately known as the “June Swoon”; much to the dismay of us long time Giants fans. Although they didn’t quite swoon, it wasn’t much of a boon either. However, there are highlights!
3 Jun: MLB announced that Giants OF Luis Gonzalez, who was optioned to Triple-A in mid-May, but then was recalled, was voted the NL Rookie of the Month after batting .368 and slugging .500 in 23 May appearances. Gonzo became the third Giants’ rookie to win the monthly award, joining Buster Posey (July 2010) and Pedro Feliz (July 2001). Gonzalez raised his average to .347, the highest ever for a Giants rookie through May. He had seven doubles, a HR, 13 RBI and 3 SB in May.
In a 15-6 win at Miami, the Giants hit 5 home runs in a game since July 31, 2021 vs. Houston. The Giants hit for the home run cycle as well: Joc Pederson and Jason Krizan (solo HR’s), Thairo Estrada (2-run HR), Mike Yastrzemski (3-run HR) and Brandon Crawford (Grand Slam). The Giants also collected four doubles for a total of nine extra-base hits; a season-high. This also occurred on June 3rd.
5 Jun: After hitting a bases-clearing double the day before in a loss to Miami, Donovan Walton connected for a Grand Slam in a 5-1 win. Not only was it Walton’s first HR as a Giant, it was his first GS of any kind. None in the minor-leagues, college, high school or Little League!
10 Jun: In a playoff-like atmosphere, the Giants hosted the Dodgers for the first time since Game 5 of the 2021 NLDS. Darin Ruf’s 2 HR’s and strong pitching from fill-in Jakob Junis powered the Giants to a 7-2 win in the first game of the three-game series.
11 Jun: With 3 starters on the IL, the Giants turned to their bullpen to pitch the second game against Los Angeles. Led by recent call-up Sam Long’s three innings as “the opener”, Jarlin Garcia and Camilo Doval escaped bases-loaded jams in the seventh and eighth innings respectively, as the Giants edged the Dodgers 3-2 to clinch a series win.
12 Jun: On the day the Giants celebrated the 10-year anniversary of Matt Cain’s Perfect Game, the Giants nearly played one themselves. First inning HR’s by Austin Slater and Mike Yastrzemski proved to be the difference in the game, and Carlos Rodón struck out 8 over six innings, and the Giants shut out the Dodgers 2-0 to complete their first sweep of the Dodgers at home for the first time since Sept. 30- Oct. 2, 2016. The sweep moved the Giants within 3.5 games of first place in the NL West.
13 Jun: The Giants tallied only five hits, but they drew a season-high nine walks, and Brandon Crawford’s 2-run double helped carry the Giants to a 6-2 interleague win over Kansas City. LHP Alex Wood went six innings, allowing only 4 hits, walking one and striking out five on only 80 pitches.
15 Jun: When he took the field in the first inning, SS Brandon Crawford reached 1,500 games with the Giants. He’s just the fifth player in the franchise’s San Francisco-era to reach that mark, joining Willie McCovey (2,256), Willie Mays (2,095), Barry Bonds (1,976) and Jim Davenport (1,501).
17 Jun: Luis Gonzalez hit his first career leadoff homerun, Joc Pederson added a solo blast and Carlos Rodón pitched eight innings of two-hit ball, striking out 8 in a 2-0 win at Pittsburgh.
18 Jun: Home runs by Wilmer Flores and Austin Slater carried the Giants to a 7-5 win at Pittsburgh to win the series in the Steel City for the first time since 2017.
21 Jun: Recently acquired backup catcher Austin Wynns’ career game at the plate carried the Giants to a 12-10 win in a slugfest with the Braves in Atlanta. Wynns matched his career-high with four RBI and logged a career-best three hits as he finished a triple shy of a cycle.
25 Jun: RHP Logan Webb, making a case to appear in his first All-Star Game, allowed only one unearned run over six innings as the Giants snapped a three-game skid with a 9-2 home win over Cincinnati. Evan Longoria, Thairo Estrada, Joc Pederson and Wilmer Flores each homered to back Webb, who improved to 7-2 with a 3.04 ERA over 15 starts this year.
Well, there you have it. While the Giants finished the month at 13-13, their big highlight of the month had to be their sweep of LA.
Hope you all had fun looking back on the month that was June 2022. In our next segment, or month, we’ll look back at some exciting moments in July, and there were a few that stick out in my mind.