Offense comes to life in big way
He caught a Johnny Cueto bullpen, then took credit for Cueto’s seven shutout innings in Los Angeles. He told a teammate Wednesday he would hit a homer against one of the game’s best pitchers, then made the Splash Hit counter spin.
He laughed and made others laugh around him, as he has done every day since the Giants gave him the gift of a second chance.
Pablo Sandoval repaid them during his first start of the season as the Giants punished Felix Hernandez and the Mariners 10-1 at AT&T Park to even their record at 3-3.
The Giants hit three homers in an inning at China Basin for the first time since 2007
and four in a home game for the first time since 2016.
Sandoval’s blast was the loudest. With two on and nobody out in the fifth inning of a 5-0 game, Sandoval hit his eighth career water shot, more than any Giants hitter besides Barry Bonds (35).
Before the game, when a reporter joked that Sandoval will start only against Cy Young winners, he retorted that he already had two homers against Hernandez.
Then he chatted up Andrew McCutchen, who said after the game, “I’m not going to lie. He said he’s going to hit a homer today, and he did.”
Gorkys Hernandez, Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford also went deep, the first time for each in 2018. Hernandez’s second-inning homer was notable because he did it in his third plate appearance of the season. Last year, no major-leaguer had more plate appearances (348) without a homer.
He knew the stat, went home over the winter and gained 10 pounds of muscle.
On a night the Giants raised their season run output from six to 16, doing most of the damage against the 2010 AL Cy Young Award winner who physically did not look right, the big takeaways did not come at the plate.
They also won on the strength of two facets of the game that they needed to improve significantly from last year, their depth and defense.
Austin Jackson, Hunter Pence and Evan Longoria were on the bench, Pence with a mild thumb sprain that did not prevent him from pinchhitting. Hernandez replaced him in the starting lineup. Gregor Blanco played for Jackson, although in left field, and Sandoval got a start at third that was planned long before Longoria homered Tuesday.
The Giants had their best defensive outfield on the field in recent memory with McCutchen, Hernandez and Blanco. All three, as well as Joe Panik, Crawford and Belt on the infield, made aboveaverage plays behind Cueto. McCutchen’s was way above average.
The Giants led 4-0 in the third inning when Kyle Seager sent a drive toward Triples Alley, which way too many opponents visited last year with Pence in right and Denard Span in center. Two runs would have scored, halving the lead, had McCutchen not intercepted it to end the inning.
McCutchen’s hitless night left him 2-for-24, but he still made a huge contribution.
“You ain’t getting hits, you’ve got to try to take them away,” McCutchen said. “Even if you’re getting hits, you want to take them away, but especially when you’re not getting them. You don’t want anyone else joining the hit parade.”
Belt extended the 4-0 lead with his homer in the fifth, to left field. King Felix then gave up his fourth and fifth walks, to McCutchen and Buster Posey, before Sandoval launched the 77th Splash Hit by a Giant to cap a four-RBI game.
“It was one of those days I felt great with all the work I’ve been doing,” Sandoval said, “one of those days I thought something would happen.”
Manager Bruce Bochy said Sandoval will get starts at third and first base. Bochy is also serious about Sandoval as the emergency catcher, saying he is more apt to use Nick Hundley to pinch-hit knowing he has the Panda in reserve.
Sandoval smiled when asked which pitcher he wants to catch most and said, “Cueto,” which he did in the bullpen during the Bay Bridge Series.
Throwing to a more conventional catcher, Posey, Cueto ran his season-opening shutout streak to 12 innings before allowing a run in the sixth. He pitched the final three-plus innings after tweaking his ankle on a defensive play.
Cueto has started two of the three Giants wins. The losing pitchers in those games were Clayton Kershaw, Kenley Jansen and Hernandez. Henry Schulman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: hschulman@sfchronicle.com Twitter: hankschulman