Giants take series from Twins on Conforto’s homer
San Francisco Giants Michael Conforto delivers a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
2023.05.23 – Michael Conforto hit the go-ahead two-run homer in the seventh for the San Francisco Giants, who rallied to beat the Minnesota Twins 4-3 on Tuesday night to take the series and their seventh win in eight games.
With plenty of patience and couple of big swings by Conforto, the Giants pushed their record back to the .500 mark for the first time in 47 days.
“It’s the kind of baseball that we want to play,” said Conforto, who homered for the second straight night and is batting .359 with five home runs and 12 RBIs in his last 10 games.
Giants starter Alex Cobb (4-1) finished seven innings for the third time in four starts this month, deftly working around a two-run home run by Byron Buxton in the first inning and a solo shot by Michael Taylor in the fifth that gave the Twins a 3-0 lead.
“It’s easier to envision coming back from a 3-0 hole when Michael Conforto is swinging the bat the way he is,” manager Gabe Kapler said. “He can go deep at any time — and go deep to any part of a really big ballpark. So that’s reassuring.”
The Giants stranded two runners in scoring position in the third and fourth innings against Twins starter Sonny Gray, who hit the wall in the sixth by walking J.D. Davis to start. Conforto crushed a double to the left-center gap, Mitch Haniger walked to load the bases and that was all for Gray, the major league ERA leader at 1.82. He threw 105 pitches, two short of his season high.
“I’ve had a lot of fun match-ups against Sony, he’s just terrific,” Cobb said. “I feel like he’s one of the more underrated pitchers in the game and he obviously figured out some new stuff this year and it’s really paying off. He was tough and then the guys just picked away at him, made his pitch count go up and had traffic on the bases a lot, worked deep counts, and that was probably the way we won the game: They got him out of there. One through nine it’s just quality at-bats.”
Jovani Moran got the first two outs, but Patrick Bailey walked to force in the first run. Brock Stewart entered and did the same to pinch-hitter Bryce Johnson.
Four walks. Two vital runs. One tough rally.
2023.05.23 (SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins) See Full Highlights
San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Alex Cobb winds up to deliver during the second inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
2023.05.23 (SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins) See Full Highlights
2023.05.23 (SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins) See Full Highlights
“We’re a patient team. Sometimes we’re going to go through stretches where we don’t do that, but I will say the key to the last couple games has been some big walks and a home run from Conforto in both of those games,” Kapler said.
With Jorge López (1-2) on the mound for the seventh, Thairo Estrada led off with a double and trotted home on Conforto’s 10th homer of the season on a 1-1 curveball.
“That guy’s a really good swinger,” said López, who has allowed seven runs on 10 hits and six walks in 10 games this month. “I just lost.”
The Giants’ closer Camilo Doval pitched a hitless ninth inning for his 13th save in 14 attempts after a perfect eighth by Scott Alexander, in textbook succession after another stellar turn by Cobb.
“You count the win when he starts walking in,” Giants starter Cobb said. “The door gets closed. His demeanor everything: He just screams closer and somebody who wants the ball.”
The right-hander, Cobb who’s fourth in baseball in ERA at 2.17, is 4-0 in his last seven starts. The Giants have won six of those games to even their record for the first time they were 3-3 on April 6.
“A big part of getting to where you want to get to at the end of the season is limiting the damage when things aren’t going right, and I felt like we did a good job during that month of April to battle and not let the skids get too long,” Cobb said. “So now we’re just playing the type of ball that we expected to play when we were leaving camp.”
STRUGGLING TWINS
The Twins, who have been in first place in the AL Central for 53 of 55 days this season, lost for the sixth time in eight games. They have six or fewer hits in 10 of their 20 games in May.
“Pretty sure everybody in here feels like we should be winning,” Buxton said, adding: “Our vibe is perfectly fine. Everybody’s still high and upbeat, and we believe in ourselves.”
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (95.7 TheGame – post-game)
San Francisco Giants manager Gabe Kapler (left) congratulates Michael Conforto (right) after the game for delivering a two-run home run during the seventh inning of a baseball game against the Minnesota Twins, Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (95.7 TheGame – post-game)
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (95.7 TheGame – post-game)
The Giants are 22-9 when scoring at least four runs, and 16-3 when allowing no more than three, so Tuesday’s game was right in their sweet spot.
“This is the kind of baseball we want to play,” Conforto said. “We’ve been doing a really good job of all the little things, executing the plans that we have on the offensive side, doing the best we can.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: DH Joc Pederson missed his 10th game in a row with a bruised right hand, but Kapler said a rehab assignment will soon be considered.
Twins: LF Trevor Larnach went on the injured list before the game because of pneumonia.
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (Locked On Giants)
San Francisco Giants catcher Patrick Bailey, right, and relief pitcher Camilo Doval, left, shake hands after the 4-3 win against the Minnesota Twins of a baseball game Tuesday, May 23, 2023, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (Locked On Giants)
2023.05.23 – SF Giants @ Minnesota Twins (Locked On Giants)
Twins’ Short Stop Carlos Correa was on the bench with a bruised left heel stemming from an awkward step on first base in the game on Monday night. He said he’s unlikely to play on Wednesday afternoon.
UP NEXT
Giants RHP Anthony DeSclafani (3-3, 3.09 ERA) takes the mound in the series finale on Wednesday, opposite Twins RHP Joe Ryan (6-1, 2.25 ERA). Ryan, a San Francisco native, has completed at least six innings in all nine starts and allowed a total of five earned runs over his last five turns.
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