SAN FRANCISCO — A 5-inch scrape on his left arm to show for his spectacular performance, Mike Yastrzemski took as much pride in his headfirst slide for the tying run as he did that dramatic splash-hit homer to end the game in the 10th inning.

BodyText_News: Yastrzemski sent a three-run shot into McCovey Cove to win it, and the San Francisco Giants rallied past the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Monday night for their season-best eighth straight victory.

Yastrzemski also connected in the sixth, giving him five career multi-homer games and two against San Diego. It was his fourth walk-off homer in the majors and second versus the Padres.

Patrick Bailey hit a tying sacrifice fly in a two-run ninth to knock in Yastrzemski, who tagged up and raced home to score with a headfirst dive into the plate.

“That was probably more exhilarating,” Yastrzemski said. “That was one of those plays where it could have ended up dropping in front. I just kind of hang out there for a second and make the right read and luckily I got in there just in time. So I was pretty fired up that the game was tied up.”

Camilo Doval (2-2) struck out Manny Machado on a 91 mph slider for the first out of the 10th and got through it unscathed for the win. It took 11 pitches to retire Machado.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler called it “nerve-wracking,” knowing the damage Machado can do.

“It was an incredible battle from a fan’s perspective,” Kapler said. “It was excellent to watch.”

Juan Soto homered twice and Ha-Seong Kim hit a two-run single in the fourth but San Diego’s undermanned bullpen couldn’t hold it.

Michael Wacha was cruising for the Padres with a 4-0 lead until giving up David Villar’s solo home run in the fifth.

Soto connected for his 11th homer of the year in the first and 12th leading off the fifth after San Diego didn’t clear the fences in its previous two games. It was his 13th career multi-homer game and first since joining the Padres last year.

Kim had three singles to back Wacha, who allowed two runs on four hits over six innings. Tim Hill pitched two hitless innings of relief with three strikeouts.

Then the Giants rallied against Luis García in the ninth.

Pinch-hitter Blake Sabol drew a leadoff walk, then Yastrzemski singled and Sabol scored on a wild pitch that advanced Yastrzemski to second. Luis Matos’ fly got Yastrzemski to third. J.D. Davis walked and Drew Carlton relieved, allowing the sac fly by Bailey before walking the next two batters to load the bases.

Ray Kerr (0-1) came in and struck out Joc Pederson to force extra innings. Pederson started the 10th as the automatic runner on second base and, after Kerr intentionally walked Thairo Estrada, Sabol dropped down a sacrifice bunt.

Padres manager Bob Melvin considers this a crucial four-game series.

“We need to pick up some games in our division, so these games seem a little bit more important even though it’s June,” Melvin said before the game.

The Giants were on a roll after a pair of impressive road sweeps against the Cardinals and Dodgers — outscoring rival Los Angeles 29-8, including a 15-0 victory Saturday.

Fernando Tatis Jr. appeared to have stolen his 13th base in the first after leading off the game with a double but the Giants challenged the call and it was ruled he was caught stealing.

Rookie right-hander Ryan Walker made his first career start as San Francisco went with a bullpen game after scheduled starter Alex Cobb was placed on the injured list Sunday with a strained left oblique muscle.

The Padres have won nine of the last 11 in the series, including both meetings April 29-30 in Mexico City.

Trainer’s room

Padres: RHP Seth Lugo is scheduled to come off the injured list and start Tuesday, his first appearance since straining his right calf May 16 covering first base. Melvin wasn’t sure what Lugo’s pitch count might be. “He’s eager to get back out there,” Melvin said.

Giants: LHP Scott Alexander was placed on the 15-day injured list with a strained left hamstring he hurt Sunday at Dodger Stadium. RHP Sean Hjelle was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento. … 3B Casey Schmitt was held out of the starting lineup a day after being hit by a pitch in the right arm. X-rays were negative.

Up next

Lugo (3-3, 4.10 ERA) will make his ninth start of 2023, pitching opposite Giants right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (4-6, 4.31).

The post Mike Yastrzemski splashes 3-run HR into McCovey Cove within the tenth because the Giants rally previous the Padres 7-4 appeared first on DAILY SAN FRANCISCO BAY NEWS.

Chicago White Sox pitcher Carlos Rodon throws against the Houston Astros during Game 4 of a baseball … [+] American League Division Series Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2021, at Chicago. (AP Photo/Nam Y Huh)

ASSOCIATED PRESS

The San Francisco Giants wasted no time bolstering their pitching staff following the resumption of MLB activity.

Over the weekend the Giants signed free agent LHP Carlos Rodon to a 2 year $44 million deal. They signed RHP Carlos Martinez to a MiLB deal on Sunday. Additionally, they announced the signing of RHP Jakob Junis to a one-year Major League deal this afternoon.

Following the departures of both Kevin Gausman and Johnny Cueto, the Giants’ main priority this offseason was ensuring those innings were replaced. While it may be hard to replicate the quality of the innings Kevin Gausman provided the Giants, Rodon may have been the best pitcher available on the market to approach that.

An underrated factor of the Carlos Rodon signing, is adding another left handed starting pitcher to the mix. This will hopefully have a positive impact on how the Giants’ bullpen is structured and utilized.

Last season, Alex Wood served as the Giants only left handed starter while Sammy Long, Scott Kazmir, and Connor Menez picked up the other starts. The four combined for 36 starts from LHP.

Having an additional LHP in the starting rotation, with the potential of Carlos Rodon, could be advantageous for the Giants. This may help them ease the workloads of their left handed relievers heading into the 2022 season.

By having another LHP in the rotation, the Giants will be able to piggy back or contrast a RH reliever depending on match ups more frequently than they did last season. Additionally, this will also impact how opponents’ structure their lineups for the myriad of pitching match ups the Giants can throw at them.

While Wood and Rodon are not arms that the Giants would use to follow an opener, they both have durability issues. Wood made the third most starts of his career (26) and Rodon made the second most starts of his career (24) in 2021. There may be cases where they pitch a limited amount of innings to protect their arms and that is where innings eaters like Carlos Martinez and Jakob Junis could be valuable.

In terms of right-handed relievers, the Giants only really have options of the short order variety. By adding two right handed pitchers with starting experience, they now have two right handed bulk options that could be really effective as swing men and spot starters.

Additionally, the Giants’ reputation for rehabilitating wayward pitchers gives another reason for fans to be optimistic. Both Martinez and Junis have flashed to varying degrees in the past, but have fallen on hard times. Perhaps a change of scenery and new pitching coaches will help them become more consistent moving forward.

The way pitching staff have been utilized over the past few seasons, it is not unusual for top tier teams to have a pitching staff with 7-9 capable starting pitchers. With the Giants’ pitching acquisitions over the weekend the Giants have been able to achieve that. This doesn’t even mention the impact returning arms like Tyler Beede and Sammy Long may have on the pitching staff.

Once again, Farhan Zaidi and Scott Harris have decided to stack the back end of their rotation and the long relief corps of their pitching staff to see which pitchers seize the open roles.

Carlos Rodon’s high AAV contract represents a more modern approach to achieving high pitchers that also have a high level of volatility. $22 million per year seems like a high price tag, but in order to avoid long term liability, this is a very smart move for the Giants. Now Rodon will have an opportunity on an unusual 2-year “prove it” deal, and the Giants will not be on the hook financially for years to come.

Furthermore, if the Giants sputter and can’t repeat last year’s success, Rodon has a player option to vacate his deal provided he pitches 110 innings in 2022. This is the future of pitcher contracts it seems.

All in all the Giants wasted no time addressing what was going to be their biggest area of ​​need this offseason. After re-signing Alex Wood and Anthony DeSclafani, they’ve added Rodon, Junis, Martinez, and Alex Cobb to join emerging ace Logan Webb in a suddenly deep starting rotation. Now if the Giants’ pitching coaches can tap into whatever they’ve been tapping into the past two seasons, the Giants will be in an excellent position to roll again in 2022.

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