The Giants took the road series in Pittsburgh two games to one. They won the first game Giants 2, Pirates 0, behind a dominant outing by Carlos Rodón. Brandon Crawford rallied the team to victory in game two Giants 7, Pirates 5.

The guys had an excellent chance at the sweep, when Thairo Estrada tied game three with a solo shot in the top of the ninth. Unfortunately, none of the pitching staff had an answer for Jack Suwinki, who hit three home runs in this one.

Suwinki hit a solo shot off Alex Cobb in the fourth, and off Sam Long in the sixth. In the bottom of the ninth, he blasted the game-winner off Tyler Rodgers. According to Elias Sports Bureau, Jack Suwinki is the first rookie to cap a three-homer game with a game-ending shot. Giants 3, Pirates 4.

The Giants then travelled to Atlanta, where the defending world series champions handed the Giants a rare loss in an excellent Logan Webb start. Webb was great, and pitched seven commanding innings of baseball. He had seven strikeouts and gave up six hits and just one run – a homer to Travis d’Arnaud. However the Braves starter Max Fried went toe-to-toe with Logan, with eight K’s, also holding the Giants to just one run over seven innings.

Tied 1 – 1, this became a tense bullpen battle after an amazing pitchers’ duel. Unfortunately, after Dominic Leone held the eighth, Camilo Doval couldn’t close out the ninth. He gave up a walk and two hits, including the walkoff single to Orlando Arcia. Giants 1, Braves 2.

Back-to-back walkoff losses in the middle of the road trip sting, but losing a Logan Webb start hurts more, because today, after a month long absence, Disco is back, and frankly I doubt he will have success against a team as strong as the Braves.

Anthony DeSclafani returns to the mound today to face Braves righty Spencer Strider (3-2, 2.45 ERA, 68 Ks). Disco’s numbers aren’t great (0-1, 6.08 ERA, 13 K), but he hasn’t pitched since April, when we put him on the 60-day IL and shut him down for recovery.

DeSclafani has not been good for the Giants against the Dodgers or the Mets, the two best teams in the league. I really hope he returns healed and can show us something today against a very good world series champion.

The Braves (39-29) have won two more games than the Giants (37-29), which means if we win the next two we will be running even with one of our strongest competitors for the wildcard slots in the NL – we’ve got to try to stay ahead of Atlanta and Philly.