We had a good week last night. For anyone who skipped watching the show midseason because the episodes weren’t all that exciting, now would be a good time to tune back in. Last night’s blowout had everything.

The early innings

For the second time in the series, the Giants threw a former Cy Young winner at us. However, Robbie Ray, who’s barely pitched the last two seasons, simply could not find the strike zone. He hit the first two batters, then after a strikeout, he walked the next two – bringing in a run.

And then, as you’ve probably heard, Michael Harris II had his first major league at-bat in two months and walloped his first home run since May 14 and the first grand slam of his career. It was an absolute laser beam that cleared the stadium and went straight to McCovey Cove, and I was surprised it was only 107 off the bat. The ball was destroyed.

Ray managed one more strikeout, and then he walked Sean Murphy, and Bob Melvin had seen enough, going into his bullpen for the rest of the game. But in a lovely change of pace, the Braves offense did not go into Hibernation. More on that in a moment, but even if you kept to a sensible bedtime, you would’ve seen some great baseball.

Kenny Powers

I was pretty loud after the last game that I didn’t think Grant Holmes should stay in the rotation after his awful start against the Rockies, and initial reports seemed to indicate they were busting him back to the pen. Somehow, cooler heads prevailed, and he was back out on the windy mound in San Francisco last night. And he twirled a gem.

It didn’t look like it was headed that way at first, as he took the bump in the first inning already ahead 5-0 and immediately served up a leadoff homer. After that, however, he went on to pitch six scoreless innings, and despite giving up an additional run to the first two batters in the 7th, he completed that frame, too. Final scoreline: 7 IP, 8 H, 2 R, 1 BB, 6 K. That’ll play in every park in America.

It was just the 24th time this season that a starter has completed seven innings, in fact: Holmes and Reynaldo Lopez have both done it once, Charlie Morton has done it twice, Spencer Schwellenbach has done it three times, Max Fried has done it six times (including the only two CG on the team), and Chris Sale has done it 11 times, in fully half his starts.

Holmes has been nothing short of a revelation for us. I’ve criticized him in the past, and he has silenced his critic.

Pouring it on

Many have observed that this team generally doesn’t score if it doesn’t homer. Well, last night our brave boys poked four taters in four different innings, with Harris’s bomb in the first, leadoff homers by Matt Olson and Austin Riley in the fifth, and a blissfully egregious two-run shot by Sean Murphy in the 8th.

It was Olson’s eighth homer since the All-Star Break. In 13 games in the month of August, he’s hitting .286/.357/.592. Meanwhile, Riley’s been hitting .287/.351/.557 since June 1.

Two more runs came off the bat of Jarred Kelenic, who came into the game as a precaution when Jorge Soler seemed to tweak his hamstring; two innings after entering the game, he hit a two-run double, making it his first multi-RBI game since July 24.

Finally, in the ninth, the Giants put a position player on the mound, and the Braves tacked on two final tallies on three walks and two singles.

All in all

Thanks to their seven walks, the Braves actually scored their 13 runs on only 11 hits, and they were quite well distributed: only Soler and Ozuna went ohfer, and Soler departed midgame with an injury; despite their hitless nights at the plate, both Soler and Ozuna scored a run.

Among the substitutes, Ramon Laureano had two hits and a walk, as did Whit Merrifield. (Merrifield’s OPS in a Braves uniform is 140 points higher than it was with the Phillies.)

Garbage time relief work was performed by Luke Jackson, with a scoreless eighth, and the nearly forgotten Jimmy Herget, making his first appearance since July 28 and just his seventh of the year. (I learned last night that it’s pronounced “HER-gut.”)

Businessman’s special

The final game of the series is this afternoon at 3:45 pm East Coast time, for another battle of the aces, Max Fried versus Logan Webb. I love watching Webb pitch; he’s an old-school fast worker who just goes up there and throws a million innings a year, like an even better version of Matt Cain. Fortunately, the Braves don’t have too far to travel on their postgame flight, as they’re just headed down to Anaheim to take on the Angels.

So, the series will wrap with a pitcher’s duel, and the Giants very nearly have their season on the line today, particularly after getting absolutely skunked last night. So they’ll be coming with all they have.

Should be a fun game!

Braves Lineup