Lamont Wade Jr. Is On Hammer Time For First Place Giants

LaMonte Wade Jr. showed out at the plate this past week as he homered in back-to-back games, recorded his first career multi-home run game on Sunday and had a go-ahead game-winning hit against the defending-champion Los Angeles Dodgers in Wednesday’s game.

Wade Jr. has been a spark plug for the San Francisco Giants, best team in the National League, and will be a key piece in determining one of the toughest division races in baseball. 

After this week, You can bet Minnesota Twins’ fans are having nightmares about the day they dealt Wade Jr. to the Giants.

Over just Saturday and Sunday alone, he bested his home run total of two in 42 games combined during his two seasons in the Twin Cities.

On Saturday, Wade Jr.’s  sixth-inning home run was one of lone bright spots in the Giants 10-2 loss to the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Then Sunday, Wade crushed the fifth pitch of the game thrown by JT Brubaker’s for his second career leadoff home run.

Not sure if the word “crushed” does that swing enough justice, because the ball landed at one of the deepest parts of Oracle Park.  

Wade Jr. would catch Brubaker slipping again in the third inning for home run, number 12 of his season; this one barely missed splashing inside McCovey Cove.

He finished the game going 3-for-5 with those two bombs, a double, two runs and two RBI.

Our esteemed colleague Kevin Moore told you back in June that Wade wasn’t going back to the minors. 

The month of July started slow for Wade Jr., but he has been picking things up lately.

Over his last seven games, he has his batting average at .375, an insane 1.083 slugging percentage, four home runs, seven RBI, six runs, three walks and a stolen base.

Wade Jr. has fit nicely with a Giants’ roster that is resilient, scrappy and accustomed to playing winning baseball.

 

 

Late into Wednesday’s game against the Dodgers, Wade Jr. capped a four-run rally in the top of the ninth inning with a two-run RBI single to right field.

That clinched a series win for the Giants,  who took three out of four games from a divisional rival who is going to be on their tales throughout the remainder of the season.

Wade Jr. still has a long way to go but his .936 OPS shows he is hitting the ball hard while still being selective with his swings enough to reach base.

His Giants will have an off day on Monday before they get ready for what will be one of the toughest stretches of their season: defending home field against the Dodgers and then welcoming the first-place Astros to San Francisco for a weekend set.