The San Francisco Giants, you would assume, would have been feeling a little bit of pressure ahead of their meeting with the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night. Up just one game in the NL West and have lost two games in a row, they were also on the road. It wasn’t a must-win, far from it, but it sure would be nice to make yet another statement of their intent. They did just that. Right out of the gate, they made it known as well.

Buster Posey hit a two-run homer in the top of the first and a solo shot from Wilmer Flores soon followed. The Dodgers got homers of their own, solo ones, from Max Muncy and Justin Turner in the bottom half of the frame, but those would prove to be the only runs given up on the evening by the Giants’ pitching staff. After that, they settled in. They held the 3-2 edge all the way until the seventh when they added an additional four runs to the board, making it a 7-2 lead that just never was going to be clawed back. The Giants now lead the divisional race by two games on the Dodgers, giving them just a bit of breathing room yet again.