By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO—Four critical ballgames against a contending opponent, and the Giants won once. It’s simply not good enough, given the money invested in the team, and the expectations of the team leadership and the fan base.

But it in 2024, it is exactly what it is. At 62-62, after Thursday’s 6-0 win, the Giants are a .500 team for the mind-numbing eighth time and the fourth time in just the last 11 days. When it gets better, it inevitably gets worse, for better or worse.

Inside the numbers, the Giants fare far better against bottom feeders than they do against teams with winning records like the Atlanta Braves, who got completely healthy over the first three games of this series, before suffering a hiccup on Thursday.

Manager Bob Melvin, a three-time manager of the year who reeks of success, was reduced to prefacing his post-game answers with a telling, tepid statement.

“We’ve been in that situation a bunch and haven’t scored, so we had to try something different,” he said.

That situation in the second inning was easily the coolest thing to transpire during a rough home stand (3-4 with a season-defining, four-game losing streak): Rookie Grant McCray raced to his first-ever hit on a bases-loaded, bunt single, RBI. The skeptical crowd (29,319) rejoiced, the seas parted, and the sky opened because the Giants had scrapped together an early lead.

McCray was really funny in the clubhouse, trying to say something about the play but not really having a bunch of different descriptive words to describe it.

“I did a job for my team and got the scoring going. I can’t be more thankful for that,” McCray said.

McCray’s dad, Rodney, lit up in the stands. He made an emotional, overwhelming, but brief exit, up the aisle to a bunch of hi-fives. Rodney McCray famously, yet cringeworthy to the game announcers, crashed through the outfield fence at a Pacific Coast League game in Portland in 1991 and wound up all over the airwaves, and SportsCenter, for decades.

Again, his son Grant was in the clubhouse, trying to be descriptive.

”Today I just came in with the mindset of it’s just another game. Play hard and do your job,” McCray said.

In the sixth, McCray homered, and his first two major league games gained heft and record-book notoriety. In fact, his father Rodney might want to stick around for the weekend in Oakland. Grant could surpass his dad’s 14 career at-bats and three hits in just four games.

Logan Webb was dialed in again, working into the eighth inning efficiently (21 first-pitch strikes to 27 batters) and decisively, another reminder that Webb could be the lead actor in Broadway play with the Giants’ roster as his supporting cast for many seasons to come. On Thursday, when Webb took his final bow, the crowd howled with approval. Braves manager Brian Snitker played witness.

“(Webb) was going to give their bullpen a break, and he did. And he was efficient. Very, very competitive guy with really good stuff. And with that sinker, really throws a lot of strikes,” Snitker said.

Tyler Fitzgerald continued his fantastic Major League debut season with a hit and an RBI sacrifice fly. Casey Schmitt hasn’t had a bunch of opportunities or success, but he had a productive game with three hits, including a two-run homer.

A lot of good storylines and individual progress, those Giants, but not any more wins than losses. That’s them.

Again, Grant McCray in the clubhouse, beginning to warm to the occasion.

“It might be a fielder’s choice, but I’ll take a free hit,” McCray said of his bunt, which appeared to be a play in which no way, no how, was any throw going to clip him at first. “It doesn’t hurt my feelings.”

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