Giants Take Three of Four From Cubs, Maintain Lead in NL West

At the beginning of the 2021 baseball season, the San Diego Padres and the World Series champion Los Angeles Dodgers were considered the favorites in the National League West. But through games of June 6th, the San Francisco Giants led the division by two games over San Diego and three over Los Angeles. And at 37-22, the Giants had the best record in the National League.

The Central Division leading Chicago Cubs were in San Francisco for a four game series June 3rd-6th, with the Giants taking the first three games before losing the final game of the series. The Giants don’t have a lot of hitters with big individual stats, but as a team, they are second in the NL in runs scored and home runs, and third in slugging percentage and on base percentage. Their offense will take a hit over the short term, however, with 3rd baseman Evan Longoria going on the injured list after suffering a sprained left shoulder in the June 5th game. Longoria, who has nine homers and 30 RBIs in 50 games, leads the club in batting average (.280) and on base percentage (.376). He will be out four to six weeks. It could have been worse; he injured himself in a collision with shortstop Brandon Crawford, who leads the club with 12 homers and 37 RBIs.

Righthander Kevin Gausman is having an outstanding season. He’s 7-0 with a 1.27 ERA and 93 strikeouts in 12 starts. None of the pitchers in the starting rotation has an ERA above 3.86. Closer Jake McGee has converted 12 of 14 save opportunities. Here’s highlights of Gausman’s seventh victory of the season, a 4-3 win over the Cubs on June 5th. Gausman struck out 10 and allowed just two hits (and two unearned runs) in seven innings:

The Giants will play the Texas Rangers next in a two game set in Arlington June 8th and 9th.