SAN FRANCISCO — Wilmer Flores hit a go-ahead home run, Jung Hoo Lee tripled home an insurance run, and same cast of characters that has powered the Giants’ strong start to the season carried them to 4-2 win over the Milwaukee Brewers to begin their homestand Monday night.
Playing his first game against his former team, Willy Adames scored from first on Lee’s triple in the seventh inning that padded the Giants’ lead but finished hitless in four at-bats as his batting average sank bank below .200, to .194.
The score was tied at 2 when Flores launched a first-pitch sinker from Grant Anderson deep into the left-field bleachers with two outs in the seventh. His team-leading seven homers trail only four other players for the most in the majors.
The Giants had to claw back from a 2-0 deficit after Caleb Durbin took Robbie Ray deep in the second inning.
Ray was far from sharp but rebounded from the long ball to turned in one of his longest starts of the season. It took him 91 pitches to complete five innings, and he issued three walks, but he went deeper than he had since April 5 vs. Seattle and issued his fewest free passes since his first start in Cincinnati on March 30.
One pitch resulted in both of the Brewers’ runs off the Giants’ starter, who has yet to lose a start but was saddled with a no-decision: a letter-high fastball to Durbin, which the No. 9 hitter deposited just beyond the left-field wall for a two-run blast after Joey Ortiz reached by beating out a double play.
The runs were the first Ray had allowed against Milwaukee since 2016, spanning 20⅓ innings. He picked off Jackson Chourio in the top of the first to pass Chris Bassitt for the longest active scoreless streak against the Brewers, then lost the belt when Durbin took him deep the next inning.
The Giants got one run back at a time, getting two-out single from Patrick Bailey that allowed Heliot Ramos to race home from second to make it 2-1 in the second inning and tying the game when Tyler Fitzgerald came around to score after legging out his second infield single of the game in the fifth.
It all led up to the big homer from Flores, who has seemingly had as many as any player around the league this season. He also worked a two-out walk that set up Bailey’s RBI single in the second and poked a single past first baseman Rhys Hoskins in the eighth.
Related Articles
Willy Adames keeps on smiling through early struggles with SF Giants
SF Giants end road trip with whimper as Walker blows save against Angels
SF Giants even series as Roupp dominates everyone but Angels’ Mike Trout
SF Giants put Casey Schmitt on IL, their first transaction of the season
SF Giants lose second straight despite Webb’s gem against Angels
Lee’s triple was his second of the season, one off the major-league lead. He already leads the majors with 10 doubles and possesses a team-best .983 OPS. Before lacing Jared Koenig’s 1-0 sinker into right-center field, the 31,758 on hand were serenading him with chants of his own name.
The five runs equaled best scoring output in five games for the Giants, who had lost three of their past four games and wasted a pair of walks to lead off the first two innings when Mike Yastrzemski and Matt Chapman were each thrown out attempting to steal bases.
Chapman’s walk in the second inning was his MLB-best 22nd of the season in 23 games.
San Francisco had been 18-for-21 on the bases before being thrown out twice.
The four-game series continues Tuesday at 6:45 p.m. with RHP Jordan Hicks (1-2, 6.04) against LHP José Quintana (2-0, 0.71).
