At the beginning of the season, the idea that the Giants would have 51 wins a game after the halfway point in the season was very plausible.
After all, GM Bobby Evans beefed up this team by adding two premier pitchers and a solid outfielder to a team which already had baseball's best catcher, one of baseball's best pitchers, and a couple of All-Stars and award winners.
But who would have ever thought that on July 1st, Jarrett Parker, Conor Gillaspie, Grant Green, and Trevor Brown would be the reason the San Francisco Giants, and not the Sacramento River Cats, win a ballgame?
If anyone says he or she did, that person is a liar.
Johnny Cueto allowed four runs, three of which came by way of two home runs, and Angel Pagan, Brandon Belt, and Brandon Crawford, batting in the 2-3-4 spots in the lineup, combined for zero hits in eleven at-bats.
At a glance, that combination sounds like a recipe for disaster which would result in a loss for the Giants.
Parker, Gillaspie, Green, and Brown picked up their squad when it desperately needed a spark, totaling eight hits and driving in all six of San Francisco's runs to lead the Giants to their first win in the month of July.
Cueto got off to a disaster of a start, allowing three runs in the first inning by way of a Paul Goldschmidt double and a Wellington Castillio two-run home run.
The right-hander's poor start echoed his last performance in which he allowed six runs in six innings against the Phillies.
Gillaspie helped chip away at the lead by tripling home Brandon Crawford, but it didn't take Arizona too long to answer back as Jake Lamb took Cueto deep in the bottom of the third.
San Francisco's offensive attack didn't waver, immediately responding with two runs of their own in the fourth by way of a Green two-run single, then taking the lead in the sixth when Brown doubled home two, giving San Francisco a 5-4 lead.
Despite the early runs, Cueto shook off the rough start and ate up seven innings for Bruce Bochy in what could have easily become a bullpen game.
From the fourth inning to the seventh inning, the right-hander only faced two over the minimum and struck out the side in the fourth inning.
All in told, Cueto finished with nine strikeouts over seven innings while not walking a single batter.
Parker increased the San Francisco lead to 6-4 with an opposite-field home run in the eighth inning, his fifth of the season.
Santiago Casilla's inning was another adventure that Giants fans have become so accustomed to witnessing since the torture years.
The closer began the inning by allowing a pair of leadoff singles to Castillo and Chris Herrmann, putting runners at the corners with the go-ahead runner on first.
Arizona looked poised for a comeback, but the Brandon-duo came to the rescue, turning a difficult 3-6-3 double play off the bat of Yasmany Tomas while preventing a run.
Belt looked Castillo back to the bag after fielding the grounder, then fired a rocket over to Crawford, who fired one right back to his first baseman to complete the double play.
The decision to not instantly fire the ball to second could have hurt the Giants, as Tomas could have beat out Crawford's throw back to first base, which would have kept runners back at the corners.
Luckily for Belt, he had a Gold Glove winner on his side.
After walking Phil Gosselin, Casilla struck out Peter O'Brien on his signature curveball to end the ballgame and secure the win.
Today was a taxing day for Cueto, both emotionally and physically.
Prior to the ballgame, the right-hander learned that his pony, Popeye, named after the fast-food chicken franchise not named KFC, had passed away due to an intestinal disorder.
That news is bad enough, but during warmups, Cueto dealt with sickness issues of his own and had to battle just to make it to the game.
The signs of sickness were clear, not only did Cueto not have his sharpest stuff, but he wasn't the happy-go-lucky pitcher who treats every game like it's taking place in his backyard.
The Giant offense helped Cueto record his 12th win of the season, dedicated to Popeye, who is now up in pony heaven with a lifetime subscription to MLB.TV so he can watch his owner pitch.
Speaking of Romo, in his latest rehab appearance, he gave up a leadoff double before striking out one batter, then getting the next two to hit easy comebacks right at him.
The Giants committed another error today, this time by way of a Green miscue.
Although the Giants have only the 18th most errors in baseball, their fielding as of late has been a little sloppy, and this is an area of the team's game that they'll want to tighten up before it gets out of hand.
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