San Francisco Giants Rookie Did Something Not Seen Since 1980s

During Monday's game, one of the San Francisco Giants' rookies did something not seen in franchise history since the 1980s.

Jul 20, 2024; Denver, Colorado, USA; San Francisco Giants outfielder Tyler Fitzgerald (49) reacts after hitting a home run against the Colorado Rockies in the third inning at Coors Field / John Leyba-USA TODAY Sports

This is an important time on the calendar for the San Francisco Giants.

They need to start showing the ability to win games right now or else they might be forced to start selling some of their tradeable pieces away to get something back in what has been a disappointing year to date.

Waiving the white flag at this point in the season would be a tough pill to swallow, especially with the expectation they would be competing for the playoffs after overhauling their roster throughout the winter in order to chase playing in the fall.

But with a 1-3 record coming out of the All-Star break after losing 3-2 in the opener against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday, they are inching towards becoming sellers.

Amid the negatives, though, there were still some positives.

Blake Snell continues to look like he has found his past Cy Young form with his six-inning outing where he gave up two earned runs on four hits. That will be important going forward if the Giants are able to catch lightning in a bottle and start rattling off some wins.

The headliner was Tyler Fitzgerald making history, though.

With his 394-foot blast in the seventh inning to tie things at two, he homered for the fourth game in a row. This was the first time a San Francisco player had done that since Brandon Belt in 2018, but with him being 26 years old, he became the youngest to accomplish that feat since Will Clark did it in 1987.

Tyler Fitzgerald is the first Giant to homer in four straight games since Brandon Belt in 2018 and the youngest to do it since Will Clark in 1987.

— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) July 23, 2024

This record would likely be much better received if it had taken place in a victorious effort.

Giants fans are tired of hearing how close this team is to a turnaround after that has been the rhetoric throughout their 101 games so far this year.

Still, Fitzgerald is a player the organization has high hopes for, so it's nice to see him start to figure some things out at the plate after he's been riding the rollercoaster of promotions to the bigs and demotions to the minors.

Across 38 Major League games in 2024, he's now slashing .299/.365/.552 with five homers, 11 extra-base hits and 11 RBI.

If San Francisco decides to start shipping out some of their established players to get some sort of return back, then Fitzgerald is a prime candidate to get more playing time to finish out the season.

How long he can keep this home run streak going will be determined on Tuesday, but this power surge is proof he can bring some different elements to the table with his bat.