SAN FRANCISCO – A sun-kissed sellout crowd celebrated extra than simply one other Giants’ win Sunday at Oracle Park.
This 5-4 victory got here in walk-off style, it secured a sweep of their home-opening collection in opposition to the Seattle Mariners, and it prolonged baseball’s longest lively win streak to seven straight W’s.
The Giants, after sweeping their earlier three-game collection in Houston, personal an 8-1 document for simply the second time since shifting to San Francisco in 1958; the 2003 membership opened 13-1.
Pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores delivered a two-out single within the ninth to attain Luis Matos, one pitch after an exceptional catch injured Mariners proper fielder Victor Robles.
“We have a feeling where we can win the game no matter what,” Giants supervisor Bob Melvin mentioned. “When you lose the lead in the ninth, it’s a little demoralizing. To be able to come back again, it shows what we’ve developed here, a certain identity that we can win those close games, we can win any kind of game.
“If we have an opportunity to win in the ninth or late, we have a good feeling it’s going to happen,” Melvin added, “especially in this ballpark with fans going crazy.”
Flores’ game-winner was further gorgeous contemplating the macabre scene it adopted. Robles daringly snared Patrick Bailey’s flyball for the Giants’ second out; Matos tagged up and superior from first to 3rd on the play, however a replay overview moved Matos again to second base.
Robles needed to be carted off the sector after his left arm collided with the waist-high wall and foul-ball netting. “He took on a wall we’ve never seen anyone take on in this park’s 25-year history,” Mike Krukow mentioned on NBC Sports activities Bay Space’s broadcast. “It was one of the most spectacular catches we’ve seen in this ballpark.”
Mike Yastrzemski, whose three-run homer staked the Giants to a 4-2 lead within the fourth inning, bought the game-winning rally began with a leadoff, four-pitch stroll. Matos then reached on a fielder’s alternative, with Yastrzemski’s slide into second base breaking apart a possible doubleplay.
Camilo Doval entered within the ninth in search of his third save of the season, and he was one strike shy of doing that. As an alternative, clean-up hitter Randy Arozarena lined a two-out, two-strike single over a leaping Matt Chapman at third, thus driving in Victor Robles for the tying run. Doval escaped an ensuing bases-loaded jam by getting Mitch Garver to come out to Chapman.
Mike Yastrzemski’s three-run homer put the Giants forward 4-2 within the fourth inning, and it got here on an opposite-field strategy that had simply delivered singles by Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos, the latter of whom drove in Willy Adames for the Giants’ first run of the day.
Yastrzemski’s homer, his first of the season, got here on a belt-high, first-pitch fastball by Mariners starter Bryan Woo. Melvin acknowledged pregame that the Giants would emphasize urgency on the plate in opposition to Woo, an Oakland native who threw a first-pitch strike 72.9% of the time final season for MLB’s greatest mark since such monitoring started in 1988.
Flores has reached base in all 9 of the Giants’ video games, however he was out of the lineup up till the ninth inning. “I can’t run Flo out every single day. I know it’s just DH-ing and we’re getting a lot of production out of him. I want to keep him healthy,” Melvin mentioned pregame. “This was a good day to get Matos in there, get (Heliot) Ramos off his feet and give Flo a day off, though I still have him coming off the bench.”
After pitching six scoreless innings final week to win in his native Houston, Jordan Hicks allowed a pair of solo house runs Sunday, with Nos. 2 and three batters Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh going deep within the first and third innings, respectively. Hicks bought pulled after 90 pitches – with one out within the sixth, two males on base, and a standing ovation from a sellout crowd in his first house begin of the season.
Reliever Randy Rodriguez promptly yielded an RBI single to Ryan Bliss that trimmed the Giants’ result in 4-3. Rodriguez didn’t again up Matos’ throw house that bounced previous catcher Patrick Bailey, and never solely did that permit two Mariners to advance a base, Matos was charged with an error – solely the Giants’ second all season. Matos subsequently made a rally-ending catch close to the third-base stands to protect the 4-3 lead.
Seattle threatened to spoil issues within the eighth with a pair of pinch-hit singles off Erik Miller, however Matt Chapman began a 5-4-3 doubleplay to finish the risk.
One other net gem got here earlier from the infield’s left facet when Adames, within the fifth inning, tracked down a Julio Rodriguez grounder in shallow heart discipline and rifled a one-hop bullet in time to first baseman LaMonte Wade.
NEXT UP
The Giants subsequent host the Cincinnati Reds in a rematch of final week’s season-opening collection, with Monday’s starters the identical as Sport No. 1 in Logan Webb vs. Hunter Greene. Looming is a 10-game street journey in opposition to the New York Yankees, the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Angels.
HOT START
Melvin traced the Giants’ scorching begin to a confluence of things, from long-time cohesion, veteran steerage and a distinct strategy which, with out naming names, traces to Buster Posey’s presence as president of baseball operations.
“There is a cohesiveness to the team this year,” Melvin mentioned pregame, “that we really didn’t have, at least to begin last year, because guys were just coming in later. Free agency and so forth were done later in the spring.
“That, the fact we have a little bit different way we’re doing things, and we’re having some success, it’s a good vibe,” Melvin added. “We brought in some guys that are big clubhouse presence in Willy Adames and Justin Verlander. We have some guys here that are signed for a long time. It just feels it’s put together a little differently.”
Initially Printed: April 6, 2025 at 3:53 PM PDT
