Bailey’s Splash homer sparks Giants’ win over D-backs
San Francisco Giants’ Wilmer Flores (41) celebrates with teammate Patrick Bailey, right, after Bailey hit a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Nic Coury/Associated Press
2024.04.20 – Catcher Patrick Bailey drove in three runs and had four hits, including a two-run splash homer into McCovey Cove, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3 on Saturday.
Bailey’s home run off Zac Gallen (3-1) landed in a floating kayak and broke a 3-3, fifth-inning tie. It was the 165th splash hit since Oracle Park opened in 2000, the 103rd by a Giants hitter and the first by a switch-hitter since the Cubs’ Robel García in 2019.
“It was pretty cool that he gets a four-hit game, hits a ball in the Bay and gets to sign a lot of bobbleheads before the game,” Giants manager Bob Melvin said. “It ended up being probably a day he’ll never forget.”
Bailey went 4 for 4 on a day when the first 15,000 fans received a bobblehead of the catcher, the second four-hit game of Bailey’s big league career.
“That dude’s unbelievable,” Giants starter Kyle Harrison said. “The guy’s the truth. If you can do that on your bobblehead night, it’s definitely a day to remember for him.”
With Flores at first after a base hit in the fifth, Bailey got five consecutive fastballs from Zac Gallen and, with a 3-1 count, Bailey parked the fifth of those into a kayak — so it never actually splashed.
2024.04.20 (AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
San Francisco Giants’ Patrick Bailey hit a home run during the fifth inning of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Nic Coury/Associated Press
2024.04.20 (AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
2024.04.20 (AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
All of Bailey’s hits were with two outs, and he finished a triple shy of the cycle. His ground-rule double in the seventh just bounced over the left field wall, robbing him of a chance to go for three bases.
“I was thinking it,” Bailey said. “I was probably going to push the limits a little bit there.”
The Giants have not had a player hit for the cycle since Pablo Sandoval on Sept. 15, 2011, at Colorado, and while it would have been fun Saturday, the more important news was that, sparked by Bailey, San Francisco’s offense sprang to life.
Harrison allowed three runs and six hits in four innings, and the Giants’ bullpen finished with scoreless relief. Ryan Walker (2-2) pitched a 1-2-3 inning for the win.
San Francisco can win its second straight series Sunday, responding with a season-high 16 hits.
“But over a stretch of 162, I think if we show up and do what we did today” Bailey said. … we have a chance to do something special here, for sure.”
Gallen, who gave up five runs in five innings, had been 7-0 with a 1.32 ERA in 14 April starts. He said he didn’t feel like he was giving up hard contact, but credited hitters.
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports – Post Recap)
San Francisco Giants’ Patrick Bailey, left, celebrates with teammate Camilo Doval, right, after the final of a baseball game against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Nic Coury/Associated Press
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports Post Recap)
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (NBC Sports – Post Recap)
“It just sucks when you just feel like you’re making good pitches, and guys are battling,” Gallen said.
Jung Hoo Lee homered for the Giants to lead off in the first inning and hit an RBI double in the eighth, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.
Arizona recorded a two-out run in the first off Harrison, but Lee, who’d got the previous night off, changed the vibes immediately with a leadoff homer, his first at Oracle Park.
“Last night was a tough night for us and they’ve got Gallen on the mound,” Melvin said. “This is a big win and it started with Jung Hoo’s home run — I mean that really kind of ignited us after giving up a scratch run in the first, to come right back off Gallen. That was huge for us. It gave us a lot of momentum the rest of the game.”
Lee extended his hitting streak to 11 games; the last Giants rookie to hit in 11 consecutive games was Bailey last June 17-30. In his final at-bat, the crowd chanted “Jung Hoo Lee! Jung Hoo Lee!” After getting a pitch in on the hands from Miguel Castro, Lee responded by going the other way, sneaking a double down the third-base line to drive in Mike Yastrzemski.
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)
The San Francisco Giants’ Jung Hoo Lee hits a sacrifice fly against the Arizona Diamondbacks, Saturday, April 20, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Nic Coury)Nic Coury/Associated Press
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)
2024.04.20 – AZ Diamond-backs vs. SF Giants (Locked On post game)
Yastrzemski recorded two singles, just the second time this season he has had multiple hits, and LaMonte Wade Jr. also had a two-hit game before exiting for pinch-hitter Matt Chapman, who promptly singled. Chapman added another hit in the eighth and Michael Conforto provided an RBI single that inning.
Harrison went four innings, allowing six hits, a walk and three runs and he struck out five; he exited after 74 pitches. “I thought he had to work especially hard in that last inning and we’ve been pushing him pretty hard here early in the season,” Melvin said, citing a large group of fresh relievers available.
After the game, the Giants acquired right-hander Mitch White from Toronto for cash and transferred right-hander Alex Cobb to the 60-day injured list as he recovers from hip surgery last October.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Diamondbacks: RHP Paul Sewald (oblique) threw 15 pitches in an extended bullpen session on Friday. … RHP Ryne Nelson (right elbow contusion), who is on the 15-day injured list, feels “surprisingly well,” and the “stiffness wasn’t as bad as he thought” after being hit by a comebacker on Thursday, according to manager Torey Lovullo.
Giants: RHP Sean Hjelle (mild right elbow sprain) was activated from the 15-day injured list after a rehab stint, and RHP Kai-Wei Teng was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento after Friday’s game.
UP NEXT
RHP Jordan Hicks (2-0, 1.57 ERA) pitches for the Giants against RHP Merrill Kelly (2-0, 2.19 ERA) for the Diamondbacks.
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