Giants grab Pirates’ series with back-to-back homers
San Francisco Giants’ Thairo Estrada celebrates after hitting a solo home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 28, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez) (Godofredo A. Vásquez / Associated Press)
2024.04.28 – Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski hit back-to-back home runs in the third inning, to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 victory over the Pittsburgh Pirates and grab a series on Sunday.
Giants’ right-hander Keaton Winn had another strong start and Rookie shortstop Tyler Fitzgerald added three hits for the Giants, who took two of three from the Pirates and finished their longest homestand of the season 6-4. Pittsburgh lost for the 10th time in its past 13 games.
Winn (3-3) held the Pirates to one run over six innings, his line over the past three starts, all victories. Winn walked one, struck out five. He also hit Edward Olivares to start the fifth inning, leading to a run on Rowdy Tellez’s RBI double.
“Locked in,” Winn said of the rotation, and this is, remember, without Blake Snell, Alex Cobb and Robbie Ray. “Trying to compete with one another every day. We’re in a really good spot.”
Erik Miller and Ryan Walker each pitched a scoreless inning in relief of Winn. Closer Camilo Doval allowed a ninth-inning run, but retired Joey Bart on a groundball with the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base to complete his fifth save.
The Giants relied on stifling performances by their starters on the homestand, which left them 14-15, good for second place in the National League West. They are 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers. The rotation has a 0.95 ERA over the past seven games, a lifeline for a team that has struggled to score.
2024.04.28 (Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
San Francisco Giants’ Mike Yastrzemski slaps a home run against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 28, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
2024.04.28 (Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
2024.04.28 (Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants) See Full Highlights
Manager Bob Melvin said the Giants’ start “hasn’t been great, But to sit here right at .500, or a game below, we know there’s a lot more in there. It’s not a horrible place to be. No one’s really running away with the division, too.”
Pirates’ right-hander Jared Jones (2-3), making his sixth start in the majors, allowed three runs in five innings. Jones entered with a 2.79 ERA over his first five starts, striking out 39 in 29 innings. But the long ball has been an issue for the 22-year-old. The third-inning homers by Estrada and Yastrzemski were the sixth and seventh that Jones has surrendered.
Estrada hit the first pitch of the inning into the bleachers in left-center for his fourth of the season. Yastrzemski followed by driving a 2-2 pitch over the wall in straightaway center. The Giants had three more hits in the inning and scored a third run on LaMonte Wade Jr.’s no-out sacrifice fly.
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (NBC Sports – Post Recap)
San Francisco Giants’ Matt Chapman hits a single against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 28, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (NBC Sports Post Recap)
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (NBC Sports – Post Recap)
Yastrzemski had a tough start to the season but has heated up ahead of the Giants’ first visit to Boston in five years Tuesday night. As a rookie in 2019, Yastrzemski homered in his first game at Fenway Park in the presence of his grandfather, Red Sox legend and Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski. Before that game, Carl threw the ceremonial first pitch to Mike.
Yastrzemski hit .409 in 22 at-bats on the homestand, with two homers and eight RBIs, raising batting average from .121 to .236.
Melvin pegged Yastrzemski’s slow start to a spring-training shoulder injury. Yastrzemski also took a two-day paternity leave during the first week of the regular season.
Yastrzemski said that was part of it, but added, “I was also just not in a great place mentally, not getting off to the start that I wanted, pressing, trying to do too much. Sometimes it takes a little bit of time to let that go and focus on the things that I needed to instead of the scoreboard and to start having better at-bats.”
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (Locked On post game)
The San Francisco Giants’ LaMonte Wade Jr. hits a sacrifice fly against the Pittsburgh Pirates during the third inning of a baseball game Sunday, April 28, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (Locked On post game)
2024.04.28 – Pittsburgh Pirates vs. SF Giants – (Locked On post game)
Before the season, the Giants emphasized that pitching and defense would be their emphasis, which seems a solid strategy in a stacked division full of firepower lineups. Entering Sunday, the team ranked as Fangraph’s second-best defense, just behind the Royals. “It’s great we’ve shown we can win games that way,” Yastrzemski said.
“I don’t think anybody would say that we’ve completely jelled as a team yet, and our record would suggest that,” manager Bob Melvin said, “but I think it’s also encouraging — there’s a lot more in there for us. We’re just kind of holding our head above water right now, and everybody feels pretty good at some point in time about getting on a roll and putting together a win streak.”
BRIEFLY
The Giants drew 30,000-plus in each of the final four games of the home-stand and are averaging 32,020 fans per game, 10th best in the majors; they averaged 30,866 last year, 17th. … After a day off Monday, the Giants open a 10-day road trip at Boston, then head to Philadelphia and Colorado.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Giants: Shortstop Nick Ahmed did not start a day after taking Jack Suwinski’s 108-mph liner on the left wrist above his glove hand. He was available off the bench.
UP NEXT
Pirates LHP Bailey Falter (2-1, 3.33 ERA) was set to face RHP Joe Boyle (1-4, 7.06) in a series opener at Oakland on Monday night.
Giants RHP Logan Webb (3-1, 2.33) will carry a career-high 19-inning scoreless streak into Fenway Park on Tuesday night The Red Sox have not announced a starter.
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