The Giants are returning home following their second three-city road trip of the season. Their cross-country flight from South Beach will be of the happy variety.
Luis Matos hit his fourth home run of the season, Hayden Birdsong allowed one run over 5 1/3 innings and the bullpen worked out of several high-pressure jams as the Giants beat the Marlins, 4-2, to take two of three from Miami.
“Anytime you win a series on the road, you have to feel good about it, especially the way we’ve been scoring runs,” manager Bob Melvin told reporters. “We’ll take it. It would be nice offensively to break out some and put a little distance in some of these games, but at the end of the day, we played a lot of close games on the road trip.”
The Giants conclude their three-city road trip having won four of their nine games, winning their series against the Washington Nationals and Marlins to begin and end the trip but being swept by the Detroit Tigers in between.
In the top of the third, the Giants got creative to manufacture their first run since Friday evening. With one out, Heliot Ramos singled, Tyler Fitzgerald walked, then the duo pulled off a double steal to put runners on second and third. Wilmer Flores proceeded to drive in Ramos with a groundout for his 47th RBI of the year, and San Francisco had a 1-0 lead.
If the Giants used speed to generate their first run, they used power to plate their next three. Matos sent Ryan Weathers’ down-the-middle changeup over the left-field fence for a three-run homer, his fourth home run of the season, and the lead expanded to 4-0.
“It’s hard to get your timing when you don’t play as much, but my process was to look for a (pitch) that I could drive, a pitch that I could do damage and just to make sure that I was on time, because it’s very difficult to get your timing when you’re not playing as often as I have,” Matos said through team interpreter Erwin Higueros.
Added Melvin: “The way we’ve been scoring runs, it felt like a 20-run home run at the time.”
Similar to Friday’s narrow 2-0 win, San Francisco’s bullpen had to wiggle out of tough situations to keep the lead intact.
The Marlins chased Birdsong from the game with one out in the sixth following three consecutive singles, the last of which produced a run and cut the Giants’ lead to 4-1. With runners on first and second, Ryan Walker entered for Birdsong and recorded two quick outs, keeping Birdsong in line for the win.
The following inning, Tyler Rogers had to put out an even hotter fire.
Jordan Hicks began the seventh inning with a three-run lead but worked himself into trouble by walking three of the four batters he faced, gifting the Marlins a free rally. Following the third walk, Melvin called on Rogers with the bases loaded and one out.
Related Articles
SF Giants’ Posey preaching patience with Adames, but what does recent history say?
SF Giants’ top prospect Eldridge enjoying his time in native Virginia, but he knows California is calling
Ray caps off best month of career, takes loss as Marlins silence SF Giants
Harrison, bullpen snap SF Giants’ losing streak with win over Marlins
Kurtenbach: The SF Giants desperately need offense. Buster Posey should look at these four trade-deadline targets
Rogers allowed a run to score when Xavier Edwards hit a high chopper for an infield single, cutting San Francisco’s advantage to 4-2, but responded by striking out Jesús Sánchez swinging and getting Otto Lopez to ground out.
In the eighth, Melvin called on Doval for his second four-out save in three days.
Miami put runners on second and third with two outs against left-hander Erik Miller as Agustín Ramírez singled and Eric Wagaman doubled, prompting Melvin to call on Doval. The Giants’ re-minted closer walked Dane Myers on four non-competitive pitches to load the bases, but kept the lead intact by getting Javier Sanoja to hit into an inning-ending groundout.
Doval allowed a leadoff single to Edwards to begin the ninth, but quickly erased the threat by inducing a 4-6-3 double play. The right-hander put another runner on base with a walk but closed out the win by getting Ramírez to ground out.
The Giants now return to San Francisco for a four-game set against the San Diego Padres, who swept the Giants during their two-game series in late April. Outfielder Jackson Merrill, who finished second behind Paul Skenes for 2024 NL Rookie of the Year, didn’t play in that series but should be in the lineup come Monday evening alongside Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado.
