One-third into the season, and Giants 'in a pretty good spot'

DETROIT -- A third of the way through the regular season, the Giants are mostly looking like the team they were built to be heading into 2025.

They have one of the most talented pitching staffs in the Majors, which has kept them in the thick of the race for the National League West, even with an offense that has endured stretches of inconsistency at the plate.

San Francisco’s bats didn’t do enough in a 3-1 loss to the American League Central-leading Tigers in Monday afternoon’s series opener at Comerica Park, but the club still feels good about where it stands on Memorial Day, the first big mile marker in the 162-game campaign.

“I think we’re in a good spot,” said right-hander Hayden Birdsong, who was charged with the loss after giving up three runs over 4 1/3 innings in his second start of the year. “Obviously, we can ask for more hitting, but it’s baseball. It’s not easy. Hitting is the hard part about baseball. That’s what everybody says. It’s tough.”

After opening the season with an 8-1 record, the Giants (31-23) have played closer to .500 ball in recent weeks, going 23-22 since April 7, but they remain only 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers and believe they can continue to contend in perhaps the toughest division in baseball.

“We’re in a pretty good spot where we are,” manager Bob Melvin said. “The division has kind of come down a little bit as far as the record goes, but we’re still right in the middle of it. That’s where we intend to be all year, and that’s where we set our sights at this point in time. You always think that there’s another win or two in there that you could have, but at this point in time, we’ll take it.”

Here’s a deeper look at what’s gone right and wrong for the Giants so far this season:

The good
As expected, pitching has been the backbone of the Giants, who have a pair of aces -- Robbie Ray (2.56 ERA) and Logan Webb (2.67 ERA) -- at the top of the rotation and a bullpen that’s been the best in the Majors (2.56 ERA) this season.

The stinginess of their relievers -- led by Randy Rodríguez (0.79 ERA), Camilo Doval (1.16 ERA), Erik Miller (1.50 ERA) and Tyler Rogers (1.85 ERA) -- has created regular opportunities for the Giants to rally late, resulting in 14 comeback wins – including six walkoffs -- in 2025.

Their offense has had its ups and downs, but the club has gotten steady contributions from the likes of Heliot Ramos (.817 OPS), Jung Hoo Lee (.789 OPS) and Wilmer Flores (.761 OPS), with the latter two accounting for four of the Giants’ five hits against the Tigers on Monday.

The bad
The Giants rank in the middle of the pack in most offensive categories this year, but their overall production has slowed recently, particularly on the road, where they’ve now lost 11 of their past 16 games. San Francisco has scored just eight runs over the first four games of its current road trip and entered Monday having slashed only .199/.271/.308 over its previous 15 games away from home.

“Other than Flo and Jung Hoo right now, we’re not swinging the bat too terribly well,” Melvin said.

The Giants expected Willy Adames to serve as a key middle-of-the-order bat after signing him to a franchise-record $182 million deal on Dec. 10, but the 29-year-old shortstop has struggled to settle into an offensive groove in his first season in San Francisco. He went 0-for-4 on Monday and is only 2-for-32 (.063) with nine strikeouts over his past nine games, dropping his OPS to .617 on the season.

“Obviously, he hasn’t gotten off to the start that he wants to,” Melvin said. “You tend to try to do a little too much sometimes when you get in big RBI situations. He’s kind of known for that. He had a ton of three-run homers last year, so it’s going to come. I think maybe he’s just trying to do a little bit too much and swinging a little bit early in those situations right now.”

First baseman LaMonte Wade Jr. (.533 OPS) and catcher Patrick Bailey (.489 OPS) have also been mired in season-long slumps, making it difficult for the Giants to get much going at the bottom of their lineup. San Francisco should get a boost from the return of Jerar Encarnacion (left hand fracture), who is expected to restart his rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento soon, but the club will need the rest of its regulars to pick it up and take some pressure off the pitching staff moving forward.

“The thing with baseball is trying to stay level-headed constantly and not ride the waves,” right fielder Mike Yastrzemski said. “Even while we’ve struggled offensively, we’ve found ways to win games here and keep our heads floating. We’ve just got to keep pushing, keep trying to take good at-bats and find a way to do it collectively.”