ST. LOUIS — Venue hasn’t mattered much to San Francisco’s offense over the last two weeks. Regardless of location, they cannot stop hitting.
The Giants totaled 18 hits, matching the season-high they just set last week, as they beat the St. Louis Cardinals 8-2 on Friday night at Busch Stadium, extending their winning streak to five and notching their 11th win in their last 12 games.
San Francisco didn’t gain any ground in the NL wild card standings on the New York Mets, who beat the Cincinnati Reds.
For the second time in seven games, every player in San Francisco’s starting lineup recorded at least one hit. Six players — Heliot Ramos, Rafael Devers, Dominic Smith, Jung Hoo Lee, Casey Schmitt, Patrick Bailey — totaled at least two hits. Rafael Devers and Willy Adames set the tone with back-to-back homers in the first, and Lee stacked four hits for the second time this year.
The Giants have recorded a staggering 70 hits over their last five games, the most hits the team has totaled in a five-game span since the team moved to San Francisco. Only the Mel Ott-led Giants in 1931 (73) have totaled more hits in a five-game span (since 1901) in franchise history.
San Francisco’s latest barrage was more than enough run support for rookie right-hander Carson Seymour, who recorded his first major-league win as he allowed one run over five innings with two strikeouts. Seymour didn’t allow his first hit until Jimmy Crooks began the fifth with a sharp grounder that Smith couldn’t corral.
Tristan Beck recorded a rare three-inning save to lock down the win.
Devers and Adames gave the Giants an early 2-0 lead in the top of the first with back-to-back homers off the Cardinals’ Michael McGreevy, extending the team’s home run streak to 18 games.
The Giants tacked on four more runs in the fourth on a sacrifice fly from Drew Gilbert; an RBI single from Patrick Bailey; an RBI single from Devers; and a run-scoring force out by Adames. By inning’s end, San Francisco led 6-0.
St. Louis finally scratched across a run in the top of the fifth on an RBI single from Victor Scott II, but San Francisco responded with two runs in the seventh on an RBI triple from Lee and an RBI single from Schmitt.