SF Giants win fifth consecutive one-run game, sweep flailing Braves: ‘We’re battle tested’

SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants do not have the highest payroll or the most high-level talent on the roster, but no team in the league can claim to be more exciting than San Francisco right now.

Every game, as of late, has come down to the last at-bat, and Sunday was no exception. The Giants entered the series finale against the Braves having played six consecutive one-run games, including walk-off wins the last two days.

“We’re resilient, and we knew this was going to be the base this year, and most any year here you’re going to play a lot of close games,” said Mike Yastrzemski after he drove in three runs. “This ballpark, it’s such a finicky place to hit that it becomes that scenario where you’re going to play one-run games.”

San Francisco continued the trend of piling up wins and giving their fans heart attacks by gutting out a 4-3 victory. It was the first time the team has won five straight games by exactly one run since June of 1998, and gave the Giants a MLB-high 16 one-run victories.

Manager Bob Melvin may not prefer to win every game by such a slim margin, but he believes the team will benefit from these games in the long run.

“We’re battle tested, and this, going forward, has to be good for us,” Melvin said. “It’s not like we panic in these games, and with the bullpen doing what they do, we always feel like we have a good chance to win.”

The Giants endured an injury scare to a crucial player late in the game when third baseman Matt Chapman took several moments to get to his feet after being picked off at first base in the bottom of the eighth inning. He was seen shaking his right hand, but remained in the game.

Melvin said Chapman will undergo an X-ray but that the team is optimistic the injury was not serious.

Landen Roupp entered the game pitching well, having allowed just one earned run over the righthander’s past four starts.

Facing a decorated Braves lineup in front of a Hello Kitty-obsessed sellout crowd, he was roughed up early but was able to eventually settle into a groove down the stretch, going six innings and giving up three earned runs on 95 pitches. He improved to 4-4.

“I didn’t have my best stuff today, so it was important to mix, and I still think I kind of got into a rhythm with the curve ball more today than I have in the past,” Roupp said.

Braves ace Spencer Strider also pitched six innings, allowing three earned runs and striking out five.

San Francisco gave the struggling Willy Adames the day off, with Casey Schmitt earning the start at shortstop.

The Braves got on the board first. Former MVP Ronald Acuna walked to lead off the game, went to third on an Austin Riley single and then scored via Matt Olson’s 35th RBI of the season.

Yastrzemski answered with a flyout to center field, which was hit deep enough to score Chapman and tie the game in the second inning. It was his first RBI since May 4.

Atlanta then tacked on two more runs in the third when Olson doubled to center, and the former Oakland A moved to third thanks to a wild Roupp pitch.

In a duel of wily vets, Yastrzemski evened things up at 3-3 when he stroked a double that hugged the right field foul line and scored both Chapman and Flores.

Tyler Fitzgerald gave the Giants the lead when his hard-hit ball was bobbled by Ozzie Albies at second base, allowing Yastrzemski to score from second with two outs.

Following Roupp’s strong start, the Giants turned to their bullpen of Ryan Walker, Randy Rodriguez and Camilo Doval to close out the win against a Braves team that has dropped six in a row, continuing the winning streak that started with the team’s mid-week shakeup.

President of baseball operations Buster Posey designated longtime Giant LaMonte Wade Jr. for assignment and sent away two other vets, and brought in Dominic Smith and a couple of other players, providing a spark.

New-look San Francisco (38-28) pulled even with the rival Padres in the standings and will try to continue its winning ways on the road.

The Giants will enjoy an off day on Monday, and then will see Kyle Harrison – whose alma mater De La Salle captured the NorCal Division I baseball title on Saturday – start their series opener in Colorado against the cellar-dwelling Rockies.