Crawford's Solo Shot Just Enough as Giants Take Series

It has been a full calendar month since the last time the San Francisco Giants won a series, but thanks to one swing of the bat from an All-Star snub, the team enduring the rough waves of second half may finally be on the verge of righting the ship.

Brandon Crawford once again delivered the heroics for San Francisco, lining a payoff pitch in the top of the fourth just over the neon green right field fence to pave the way for not only a Giants victory, but the squad's first series victory since sweeping the Arizona Diamondbacks in early July.

Crawford's home run wouldn't have meant anything if the pitching staff couldn't contain the Miami Marlins' offense, but with Jeff Samardzija leading the way, the men out on the hill put up zero after zero on the scoreboard on route to shutting down the young and potent offense.

With a resurgent curveball back in his arsenal, the Shark got his bite back against the Marlins, throwing 5.2 innings of scoreless ball, marking his first quality start of the second half and the first time all season that the newly acquired Giant did not allow a run in an outing.

Samardzija's start did not come without a couple of hiccups along the way.

In the top of the second inning, Samardzija crossed up Buster Posey on the mound, throwing a 92 MPH fastball instead of a slider to Christian Yelich.

Posey expected the ball to break, so when the fastball kept moving straight, the All-Star catcher could do nothing but let it go to the backstop.

Luckily for the two, Posey didn't get hit, and there was no one on base, so there was no harm done.

It was clear that following the throw Posey was a tad bit shaken up when immediately after he looked more like a concerned lost child searching for his mother than a professional catcher.

Outside of the miscommunication, the Giants were razor sharp on defense, much due in part to Angel Pagán's defensive highlights that helped take away bases.

The left fielder made two highlight plays with his glove and with his arm, throwing out Derek Dietrich trying to stretch a single into a double in the bottom of the second, then making a silky smooth sliding catch to rob Yelich of a single.

San Francisco's gloves weren't the only aspect of defense that helped Samardzija keep the Marlins off the scoreboard.

Will Smith inherited runners on first and second with two outs following Samardzija's departure in the bottom of the sixth and shut the door on Miami by striking out Chris Johnson to end the inning.

Smith, Hunter Strickland, and Derek Law all registered a trio of holds, and Santiago Casilla closed out the ballgame with two strikeouts in the bottom of the ninth, protecting the one-run lead and securing the win.

The bullpen has been one of the most stable aspects of the Giants during a turbulent second half of baseball and has eaten up a lot of innings without falling victim to its first half tendencies to cough up a lead.

Smith has had some rough patches but is adjusting to his role with the Giants very nicely, filling in well when Bochy has needed his services.

Although he has a 13.50 ERA due to a pair of two-run relief outings in Philadelphia and Washington, the lefty has a -0.63 FIP, with five strikeouts in 2.2 innings.

The future of the bullpen is looking brighter with every excellent start from Law and Strickland as well, who are developing at a rapid pace.

Law most likely won't be anywhere winning the Rookie of the Year Award in the National League, but there's no denying he has been one of the better producers in his class.

It's critical to have a bullpen running on all cylinders, especially on a day like today when the only offense came by way of a Crawford home run.

The Silver Slugger's home run comes a day after he squandered two opportunities with runners in scoring position, so the go-ahead shot had to have felt just a little sweeter than any regular home run.

The Marlins are going to be thankful that the one-man wrecking crew in Crawford is finally going to be leaving Miami.

San Francisco's shortstop was a blistering 9 for 16 with two RBIs in his three games in South Beach, which includes his historic seven-hit game on Monday.

According to FanGraphs, on Monday, Crawford registered a 1.438 WPA, or Win Probability Added, which "captures the change in Win Expectancy from one plate appearance to the next and credits or debits the player based on how much their action increased their team’s odds of winning."

The shortstop's 1.438 WPA was the third highest for a single ballgame in Major League history, and Crawford wasn't too far behind the man in second place, Kiki Cuyler, who had a 1.447.

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