HR-happy Giants crush ‘King Felix’
SAN FRANCISCO — For a Giants club that scored just six runs in the first five games of the season, a matchup against Mariners’ ace Felix Hernandez didn’t exactly sound like the prescribed method to cure an ailing offense.
It turns out, a date with the six-time All-Star and 2010 American League Cy Young Award winner scrubbed away every lingering symptom of ineptitude.
From Joe Panik’s leadoff walk in the first inning to Pablo Sandoval’s three-run home run that knocked Hernandez out of the game in the fifth, the Giants made life painful for the Mariners righthander in a resounding 10-1 victory.
The Giants’ efforts to dethrone “King Felix,” began in the bottom of the first with a three-run frame and continued into a five-run fifth inning that featured home runs from a trio of Giants lefties.
After first baseman Brandon Belt led off the inning with a solo shot to left field, Sandoval launched the 77th splash hit in AT&T Park history to open up an 8-0 lead that forced the Mariners to relieve Hernandez of his duties.
The very next batter, Brandon Crawford, greeted left-hander James Pazos with a solo home run that landed in the right field arcade seats. Sandoval and Crawford’s eruptions marked the first time the Giants have hit back-to-back home runs since Crawford and Eduardo Nunez did so May 21, 2017 in St. Louis.
The offensive explosion paired beautifully with starter Johnny Cueto’s outing, as the interim ace tossed five shutout innings before allowing his first run of the season. After Cueto threw seven frames of shutout ball against the Dodgers on Friday, he returned to AT&T Park and dazzled with an effective changeup and a sound defense behind him.
The Giants’ first home victory of the season went according to plan for manager Bruce Bochy, who was forced to make a late adjustment to his Wednesday lineup. Left fielder Hunter Pence was scratched with a sprained right thumb he suffered while diving for a ball in the fifth inning of Tuesday’s loss, so Bochy slid Gregor Blanco from center field to left and started reserve outfielder Gorkys Hernandez.
Sometimes a manager plans ahead of time, as Bochy did by starting Sandoval, and on other occasions, he gets lucky. Bochy was both prepared and fortunate with the lineup he sent out against Felix Hernan-
dez, as Sandoval had hit two previous home runs against the Mariners’ top starter while Gorkys Hernandez created his own history Wednesday.
After recording 348 plate appearances without a home run last season, Gorkys Hernandez took Felix Hernandez (no relation) deep to left center field to lead off the bottom of the second inning.
The Giants didn’t score again until Belt led off the fifth inning with an opposite field shot, but the opening of the floodgates was a welcome sign for a team
that was shut out twice in the opening weekend of the season.
Manaea gets run support in dominant win over Rangers
OAKLAND — Sean Manaea pitched brilliantly in his first start of the season but fell victim to poor run support. The Oakland A's offense made sure not to let that happen his second time out.
The A's broke out the bats Wednesday night against the Texas Rangers, putting together a fourrun fourth inning to provide Manaea with plenty of support as he turned in another dominant performance.
Manaea continued to look like the best pitcher on the staff, allowing just one run on three hits with a walk and four strikes as he matched a career-high eight innings of work in a 6-2 victory over Texas in front of another extremely small crowd of 7,908 fans at the Coliseum.
Manaea was only at 93 pitches after eight innings, but manager Bob Melvin turned to Yusmeiro Petit to begin the ninth and close out the game.
The left-hander is the only A's starter to complete six innings pitched through the first seven games of the season, having done so twice now in his first two starts.