Following a walk-off win over the Seattle Mariners that needed them to survive a 5-4 affair, the San Francisco Giants have now earned its eighth win of the season – the best start that the team has had in years so far. They are showing the rest of the league that they can beat anyone in many different ways, and it is a hopeful start to a campaign that no one expected.

Over the first nine games of the season, the Giants have flourished its squad – coming up with dominant wins, comeback wins, and now clutch wins, and it seems that they still have something up their sleeves for everyone to see. This win over the Mariners proved that they can hit the ball out of the ballpark, come up with timely hits, and play elite-level of baseball.

No one expected that from the Giants. We’re talking about the team that has seen a lot of losing seasons since 2015 – being able to only make it into the playoffs twice in that span. It has been a wild turn of events for San Francisco, considering that their 2020s have seen them come up with an overall record of 376-332 so far.

Walking Off the Mariners

The Giants showed off that its approach on the opposite field is as dangerous as it can be. Their 5-4 rally win proved to slam the door shut as they completed a three-game sweep of the Mariners at the Oracle Park. What’s great about that is the fact that they have now extended their winning streak to seven games in a row – along with the MLB-best 8-1 record.

San Francisco trailed 0-2 to begin the game, but they closed out that deficit later with a four-run fourth that also saw a capper of a three-run, opposite-field home run from Mike Yastrzemski. Seattle would then tie up the game at four runs apiece on the top of the ninth on Randy Arozarena’s two-out, two-strike RBI double off Camilo Doval.

That’s when Wilmer Flores stepped in for the walk-off.

“Leave it up to Flo again,” manager Bob Melvin said. “It’s a guy you want in that situation. He knows what to expect. He knows how to handle it. He wasn’t trying to do too much. There was a hole open between first and second. I don’t want to say it’s not a surprise, but he’s done it so often.”

Flores drilled his ninth career walk-off and 13th career walk-off RBI after a scary scene in the right field. It took one pitch down the left, but he sent it rolling down the field as he sprinted through the bases to complete the comeback win.

A Start to Remember

The Giants are now off to their best start since 2003 – and wouldn’t you know it, they are way ahead of their rivals the Dodgers for first place in the National League West for the first time this season. This is a huge shock considering how bad they were playing in the past few years, and maybe it is now a campaign to remember for the club.

The Giants now move on to another homestand against the Cincinnati Reds this time for another three-game bout after winning the first set of three games earlier in March. The Giants will then be going on the road to go out for their first contender test – against the World Series runners-up in the New York Yankees starting April 11th.

The clash with the Yankees will be a good landmark test for the Giants as they seek to prove their worth this season, and one can say that they will be criticized if they can’t steal a win on the Yankee Stadium at the very least.