Giants complete sweep of Braves to cap a tide-turning homestand

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The Giants are on fire. 

Not quite literally, but just about. 

Before their fifth straight win, a grease fire broke out on the promenade level, forcing Giants players to briefly evacuate onto the field. The scent of smoke wafted down from the concourse down to the batting cages. 

The fiery scene preceded San Francisco’s fifth consecutive one-run victory. Each has followed the watershed roster shakeup that cost veteran first baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. his spot on the team.

The Giants’ bullpen — the best in baseball — allowed one hit over three innings to build upon Landen Roupp’s quality start. Mike Yastrzemski drove in three runs as the Giants (38-28) matched their season-high of 10 games over .500. 

“Every one of them comes down to the last pitch,” manager Bob Melvin said postgame. “I said yesterday, it’s battle-tested. This, going forward, has to be good for us. It’s not like we panic in these games. And with the bullpen doing what they do, we always feel like we have a really good chance to win them.” 

The Giants are essentially tied with the Padres (37-27) for second place in the National League West and trail the Dodgers by 1.0 game in the standings after securing their fourth three-game sweep of the season. The team flew to Colorado postgame for a three-game series at Coors Field starting Tuesday followed by a weekend bout at Dodger Stadium. 

Around 10:25 a.m., an alarm blared throughout Oracle Park — an emergency has been reported, please go to the nearest fire exit and leave the building, do not use the elevators. Players in the clubhouse were nonplussed. One jokingly sprinted out in a faux panic. 

But there was, in fact, a fire. It wasn’t a false alarm. 

Ballpark operations staffers and local firefighters quickly contained the flames, extinguishing them at the Fuku spicy fried chicken concessions stand atop section 112. The damage for the Giants was minor, just a slight intrusion to pregame routines. 

If anyone was affected, it may have been Roupp, who admitted postgame that he didn’t have his best stuff. The second-year righty threw five of his first six pitches out of the zone, walking Ronald Acuña Jr. and ceding a first-inning run. 

The Giants trailed 3-1 in the bottom of the fourth before the biggest hit of the game. After two hitters walked, Yastrzemski pulled a low slider into the right field corner, tying the game at three with two outs. Tyler Fitzgerald, the next batter, drove him in as Atlanta second baseman Ozzie Albies booted a routine grounder that should’ve ended the inning. 

That sequence, plus a first inning sacrifice fly, meant Yastrzemski accounted for all four of San Francisco’s runs. He entered Sunday afternoon with four hits in his last 43 at-bats — a .070 batting average. 

“Obviously it’s not been ideal, but we’ve been pushing through to win games,” Yastrzemski said. “I think that’s the most important thing…That’s truly all that I care about, is how many games we’re winning and this organization’s success. That makes it easier to battle through those things, because they are tough and it’s a lot on your plate at times.” 

The Giants only tallied three hits. But their timeliness, plus free passes from Atlanta and more electrifying performances out of the bullpen made them enough.

Roupp settled in to finish 6.0 innings, leaning on his offspeed pitches to leave the game with a 4-3 lead. It has been easy for Melvin to hand games over to his bullpen all year. 

After Sunday, Giants relievers lead MLB with a 2.32 ERA. The New York Mets have the second-best mark at 2.91. 

“The bullpen’s been unbelievable this year,” Roupp said. “Full confidence in those guys. I hate to come out of the game regardless, but it’s easy to turn it over to them because you know they’re going to do their job.” 

Ryan Walker, Randy Rodriguez, and Camilo Doval shut down Atlanta, surrendering just one hit in the final three innings. Each of them struck out two batters, with Doval capturing his ninth save of the season by fanning pinch hitter Drake Baldwin. 

Doval has allowed just two runs in his past 25 games (24.2 innings) while reassuming his old post as the closer. 

Every single game of the Giants’ seven-game homestand was decided by one run, which has only occurred four times in MLB history.

The Giants are now 16-12 in one-run games. For as much as analytics and advanced data can quantify games, those 50/50 games often come down to luck. But an elite bullpen like the Giants have can make your own luck. 

“The bullpen’s been off the charts,” Melvin said. “A real reason for a lot of confidence late in games. Even when we’re not doing much offensively, we really don’t get down because we know, for the most part, they’re going to keep us there. And if we get an opportunity and scratch out a run, we end up winning a game.” 

— The Giants traded LaMonte Wade Jr. and cash considerations to the Angels for a player to be named later or cash, the team announced. The Giants’ general manager, Zack Minasian, struck the deal with his brother, who runs the Angels’ front office.

— Jung Hoo Lee sat out a second straight game with back tightness, but is expected to return Tuesday in Denver after San Francisco’s off day. 

— Willy Adames, the star free agent acquisition, was given a day off as he has slumped below .200. 

— Matt Chapman jammed fingers on his right hand while diving back to first base as he got picked off to end the bottom of the eighth inning. He stayed in the game after Melvin and a trainer checked on him. He didn’t have to field a ball in the ninth (though one of his warmup throws sailed into right field).

Chapman, who leads the club in WAR, told reporters that his postgame X-ray showed no breaks or fractures.