Slater, Bailey homer as Giants bats catch fire against Pirates

Tribune Content Agency

SF Giants continue winnings ways back home in big win over Pittsburgh Pirates

SAN FRANCISCO — It felt just like old times at Oracle Park.

A robust Memorial Day crowd of 39,323 welcomed home a Giants team brimming with homegrown talent that’s starting to turn a once-boring squad into something that inspiring hope. From the mainstays to the young guys, the entire lineup was involved in San Francisco’s 14-4 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Monday afternoon.

Six Giants had multi-hit games to bring them their 11th win in 14 games.

Austin Slater, activated of the injured list prior to Monday’s game, hit a two-run home run off left-handed starter Rich Hill in his second at-bat. The 410-foot home run was the final touch on a five-run second inning; Giants hitters were all over Hill’s curveball, which wasn’t dropping far enough out of the zone to generate swings and misses.

The inning started with Mitch Haniger’s single off a curveball that dropped into shallow center field. Rookie Casey Schmitt hit a curve to deep left field, just out of left fielder Bryan Reynolds’ reach, for a double to put runners in scoring position. Rookie catcher Patrick Bailey, a switch hitter batting from the right side, slapped a curveball the other way down the first base line to score two.

Brandon Crawford poked a sweeper that bounced over first base for a standup double. That’s when Slater pummeled another Hill curveball to center field to make it 5-0.

Crawford, who sat for three of the Giants’ seven games on the road trip due to hitting struggles, went 3-for-3.

Schmitt, whose has started his big-league career now with six doubles in 20 games, went 3-for-5 with a two-run RBI single in a Giants’ eight-run seventh inning. Bailey hit a two-run home run — his second home run in his 10 big league games — from the left side off reliever Cody Bolton in that inning. The eight runs scored marked season-high for runs in a single inning and most they’ve scored in a single frame since 2021. Slater finished the day 3-for-6.

The Pirates took an aggressive approach to Anthony DeSclafani from the jump. Each of their first three batters swung at his first offering — and all three made contact, resulting in a three-pitch inning that ended with Tucupita Marcano, who reached on a leadoff hit, being doubled off due to a bad read of Andrew McCutchen’s shallow fly ball.

DeSclafani cruised until the seventh inning, where he gave up two runs — including a Jack Suwinski home run. But he finished the inning, giving up three runs on eight hits with no walks and two strikeouts on the day.

The game ended with position players pitching on both sides. Chris Owings pitched the eighth for the Pirates and Brett Wisely pitched the ninth for the Giants — giving up a home run to Suwinski.