You feel better after that win

BALTIMORE, MARYLAND - APRIL 10: Willy Adames #2 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates with Matt Chapman #26 after hitting a home run in the third inning against the Baltimore Orioles at Oriole Park at Camden Yards on April 10, 2026 in Baltimore, Maryland. (Photo by Greg Fiume/Getty Images) | Getty Images At some point this year, there was a brief moment — a very brief moment, but a moment nonetheless — where you wondered if the San Francisco Giants would win three games this season. And now they’ve won three straight .

Things can change quickly, it turns out. The Giants beat the Baltimore Orioles 6-3 on Friday, kicking off a nine-game road trip in style. More importantly, however, the Giants beat the Orioles in a fashion that made you feel happy and confident, not in a “even the sun shines on the Colorado Rockies 50 times a year” way.

They won because some of the stars that are supposed to carry the team, carried the team. They won because the players you’re worried about had encouraging games. They won because their starting pitching was excellent.

They won because all of the above added up to give the bullpen enough of a buffer that they didn’t need to be great, or use their most trusted arms. There are wins and there are “hey, maybe this team is all right” wins, and this was, thankfully, the latter. The other day I wrote about how all teams make mistakes every game.