Giants postseason hopes technically alive after win against Arizona

SAN FRANCISCO — The odds are slimmer than slim, but the Giants have not been eliminated from playoff contention yet.

The Giants’ 10-4 win against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night — along with a Philadelphia Phillies loss — kept alive their season. That the second game of the Phillies’ double-header on Friday was rained out helped a bit, too.

But the Giants, now winners of 10 of their last 11 games, will need to win out their remaining five games and the Phillies and Milwaukee Brewers must lose all of their games for the Giants to make the postseason. They have two more against the Diamondbacks before a final road trip to face the San Diego Padres, who are clinging onto a second NL wild card spot.

Technicalities add a little buzz to the next few games. The Giants are technically the hottest team in baseball over the last two weeks. A miracle is just a few simultaneous winning and losing streaks away. But the Giants would rather be in control of their own destiny. They’re not celebrating slim odds — and who can blame that?

“It’s been great, but a little late,” Alex Cobb said. “That’s all I’ve got to say about it. It’s been good baseball. It’s just too late.

“I know we are (technically in the race), but we’re not controlling anything. And that, for me, is too late. We’re hoping and praying on other scoreboards. If we just stopped some of the skids we had earlier in the year we wouldn’t be in this position, but I think there’s a lot to learn from. You have to learn how to lose and feel this struggle and not be happy with it and take it into the next season and know that there’s going to be a handful of games that decide if you go into the playoffs or not.”

Some of those early-season struggles came against beatable teams, like the Diamondbacks. Some frustrating losses came at the hands of a pitcher like Merrill Kelly, who has a 3.13 ERA overall but entered Friday’s game with a 1.35 ERA against the Giants this year.

But the Giants turned the tables on Kelly on Friday. By the third inning, the Giants had scored more runs (7) against the right-hander than he’d allowed them over his previous five starts against them (6). And the Giants had a loud rebuttal.

Evan Longoria hit two home runs — one in the Giants’ four-run first inning and one in the second inning. Mike Yastrzemski — who replaced an ailing LaMonte Wade Jr. in the lineup last-minute — homered, too. Longoria’s home runs came off the bat at 103 and 104 miles per hour. Yastrzemski’s at 107 mph.

“He attacks the zone. Our philosophy was kind of like, let’s be more aggressive early in the count,” Longoria said. “He’s usually good at pitching to the corners and executing pitches at any time. Philosophically speaking we thought if he pitches a complete game in 80 pitches, so be it. Let’s just go out and attack him and see what happens.”

Joc Pederson attacked in the second inning, too. He tripled off the brick wall — his third triple this week — and scored a Little League home run with some defensive ineptitude from the Diamondbacks.

“The Little League thing really fits,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He’s just like a giant kid out there.”

The Giants scored eight runs against Kelly, who came out of the game just two outs into the fifth inning.

Cobb gave up four runs and struck out five in his five innings. Thomas Szapucki, Alex Young and Yunior Marte pitched four scoreless out of the bullpen.