By Morris Phillips
You can’t beat the Giants four straight at AT&T Park and don’t expect the Nationals to have much success against Tim Hudson.
The Giants ran past the NL East leaders on Thursday, avoiding a rare four-game sweep with a 7-1 win over the Nationals. The NL West-leading Giants got some more good news when the Dodgers fell for the second straight day in Cincinnati, allowing San Francisco to increase the biggest divisional-lead in baseball back to 8 ½ games.
How rare are four-game sweeps against the Giants? No team has pulled the feat since the ballpark in Mission Bay opened in 2000, with the last one coming in September 1996 at Candlestick Park. The Nationals couldn’t have been a better candidate to pull the feat, having won 10 of 12 to overtake the Braves for first place. But once Tim Hudson took the mound on Thursday, the Giants almost instantly looked like a much more dynamic team than they had in the previous three days.
“It starts with your starting pitcher,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Hudson. “He set a great tone as (Chronicle beat writer) Henry (Schulman) just mentioned, he went out there early, got some quick outs and got us back in the dugout.”
“You try to avoid any kind of extended losing streak whether it’s all to one team, or losing two to one team, and two to another team,” Hudson said succinctly.
Huddy as Hudson is affectionately known was dealing again, improving his record to 7-2 with a microscopic 1.81 ERA. On Thursday, he allowed six hits and a run over seven innings. As a member of the Braves since 2005, the 38-year old pitcher has seen the Nationals a lot over the years, but unlike others, he’s taken advantage of the opportunities, beating Washington for a 17th time, this one with the possibility of a season-worst losing streak looming.
In the fifth inning, with the Nats threatening with runners at first and third, Hudson threw rookie pitcher Blake Treinen some nasty breaking pitches that he attempted to bunt. But Treinen failed to do so three straight times, striking out. Then Hudson induced the speedy Denard Span to hit into an inning-ending double play.
The win marked the 212th of Hudson’s career, the most career wins of any active big league pitcher. It also reinforced the fact that the Giants have been handsomely rewarded for signing the aging pitcher who saw his 2013 season end in a gruesome fashion as he broke his ankle trying to make a putout at first base. Hudson also missed big chunks of 2009 and 2010 due to Tommy John surgery, but he looks like one of the best pitchers in the game once again in 2014.
“I’ve always admired him from the other side, how well he competes,” Bochy said of Hudson. “I felt we were getting a front-line pitcher who will give us a chance to win on a consistent basis. He’s done all we’ve expected and even more.”
The Giants’ offense had floundered in the first three games of the series, but bounced back in the finale. The Giants scored twice in the second, sixth and eighth, and once in seventh to turn the game into a rout. The NL West leaders scored five runs in the first three games of the series before busting out with seven in the finale.
Tyler Colvin contributed the critical RBI triple in the second inning to open the scoring. Gregor Blanco had an RBI single in the sixth, and Hector Sanchez knocked in a pair of runs in the eighth.
The Giants’ homestand continues on Friday night when Tim Lincecum faces the Rockies. Jorge De La Rosa (6-5, 4.04 ERA) will make the start for Colorado.
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