Giants head into All-Star break on a roll after Samardzija, Longoria key narrow win

SAN FRANCISCO — As the Giants prepared for their final game before the All-Star break, Bruce Bochy was asked if he was satisfied with his team’s performance through its first 88 games.

The Giants were not expected to contend for a playoff berth, but a manager who annually sets the bar high was candid when describing his disappointment.

“I can’t say I would have taken this,” Bochy said. “I set the bar a little higher than that. Trust me. To have the experience that we have here, the résumé, the DNA of this club, no.”

Over the last five weeks, frustration has turned to optimism for Bochy and that’s the sentiment permeating around China Basin after the Giants secured a nail-biting 1-0 victory over the Cardinals on Sunday.

Since June 1, the Giants are 19-14 and will head into the All-Star break having won seven of their last nine games.

Frustration has been the dominant feeling for both Jeff Samardzija and Evan Longoria for much of the season, but with an impressive week, the veteran duo have helped key the Giants’ best stretch of the season.

With seven shutout innings against St. Louis, Samardzija lowered his ERA to 4.01 and picked up his team-leading sixth victory of the year.

With a solo home run to break a scoreless tie and break up Cardinals righty Jack Flaherty’s no-hit bid in the seventh, Longoria moved into a team for the team lead at 12 homers this season.

Samardzija has struggled with consistency this season, often following some of his better outings with some of his worst. That was not the case this week, however, as he bounced back from throwing eight innings of two-run ball against San Diego with another strong performance against St. Louis.

The right-hander hit Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong with a two-strike pitch in the first inning, but DeJong was caught stealing to end the inning and no St. Louis hitter reached base until third baseman Yairo Muñoz singled with two outs in the fifth.

Muñoz’s single marked the first hit of the game for either team as Flaherty was perfect until he issued a walk to Giants left fielder Alex Dickerson to lead off the fifth inning.

By the end of the sixth inning, Flaherty had recorded more hits than he had given up as the right-hander slugged a double into the left center field gap against Samardzija in his second at-bat.

DeJong singled to open the top of the seventh, but the Giants kept the Cardinals scoreless thanks to a pair of outstanding catches from center fielder Kevin Pillar. With one on and no one out, Pillar ranged into the right center field gap and made a full-extension diving catch to rob first baseman Paul Goldschmidt of extra bases.

The catch preceded another impressive grab from Pillar, who raced back to the warning track to corral a flyball off the bat of Dexter Fowler.

Pillar’s defensive heroics and Samardzija’s scoreless outing set the stage for Longoria to be the team’s offensive hero.

His 398-foot shot into the left field bleachers marked his fifth home run since Monday as the third baseman is now four home runs shy of matching his total of 16 from his first year with the Giants.