By Morris Phillips

With major doings on the major league trade front, and a tough decision rendered by the Giants’ front office, Chris Heston and Matt Duffy continued to motor along on Monday.

No doubt, all three developments are related.  While teams with playoff aspirations look to bolster their ranks for the season’s home stretch, it more and more appears the Giants believe they have what they need right in their own clubhouse.

The Giants established an early lead and finished off the Brewers, 4-2, at AT&T Park Monday night and climbed within a half-game of the NL West-leading Dodgers.  Winners of 12 of 13, the Giants are red-hot and obviously thinking about mounting an encore to their most recent World Series title this fall, not in 2016 as the well-chronicled pattern would suggest.

Heston and Duffy—like unexpected gifts that keep on giving—led the charge against Milwaukee, with Heston pitching seven innings and picking up his 11^th win while Duffy racked up three hits, including a double, to increase his batting average to a robust .307.

Bruce Bochy was careful to remove his rookie sensation before 100 pitches were expended, likely a nod to the 116 pitches Heston threw in his previous start at San Diego.  The 27-year old Heston has never thrown more than 173 innings in any of his five, full professional seasons, but he has thrown at least 148 innings four times.  Currently, Heston is projected to throw 206 innings this season, which might not be a stretch, but he figures to be a centerpiece to any shortened post-season rotation Bochy configures, and that’s where the issue of durability could arise.

Of course, we’re not talking about any ordinary talent at this point.  Heston leads all National League rookies in wins, innings pitched, strikeouts and winning percentage.  Without him, the Giants wouldn’t be the last-place Brewers, but they would be an also-ran.  Given that his time-honored clichés offered after the game carry a little extra weight.

“If you can grind it out and give the team a chance to win and just stay in the ballgame, you know you’ve done your job,” Heston said.  “There’s going to be starts like that and there’s going to be starts that take a turn for the worst.  So I think it’s just about staying level.”