Before they settled in Tuesday night at Oracle Park, the Giants knew they had a golden opportunity.
Gabe Kapler's old team, the Philadelphia Phillies, had been swept in a doubleheader, opening the door for the Giants to make up some ground in the tight NL wild card race. Thanks to some good old-fashioned Dad Strength, they did.
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Alex Dickerson hit a solo homer in the seventh to break a tie and the Giants cruised from there, beating the Colorado Rockies 5-2. They got back to .500 at 27-27 and finished the night tied with the Reds and Brewers for the final two NL postseason spots.
The Giants led 2-0 behind Drew Smyly, but watched the Rockies tie it up in the sixth on Kevin Pillar's latest big hit against his old team. Pillar is no match for Dickerson right now, though.
Just about 23 hours after he had his right elbow X-rayed, Dickerson pinch-hit and smoked a go-ahead solo shot to dead center, becoming the first Giant this season to reach double-digit homers.
The Reverse Arenado
With his homer, Dickerson is 14-for-29 against the Rockies this season with six homers, four doubles and 10 RBI. He has done all of that in just eight games, although -- to be fair -- half of that damage came in the 23-5 win at Coors Field.
San Francisco Giants
Rockies fans, of course, know what it feels like to be on this side of ownage. Nolan Arenado has 31 career homers against the Giants, although just once has he hit more than five in a single season. He had 10 homers in 19 meetings in 2015.
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Welcome Back?
Joey Bart doubled in each of his first three big league games, showing off some of the power that has made him such a top prospect. But over the next 23 games, he had just one extra-base hit -- a triple -- and he was slugging just .289 when he walked to the plate with Daniel Robertson on first in the fifth inning.
Bart had a good at-bat before driving a low sinker into the left-center gap for a double that gave the Giants a 2-0 lead. He appeared to exhale deeply as he stood on second base. He later added another double.
The Giants need Bart to pick it back up, and not just because of their outfield injuries. His backup, Chadwick Tromp, was put on the IL on Tuesday, two days after hitting his fourth homer. Bart entered the night in a 2-for-22 skid.
See You Slater
Austin Slater hit a 109.1 mph laser into the left-field seats in the bottom of the first for his first career leadoff homer. It was his first homer since Aug. 19, and got the home dugout pretty fired up a few minutes after Drew Smyly had stranded a pair in the top of the inning.
Slater later stole his eighth base, setting a career-high. He has been successful in 16 of his 17 career attempts.