SAN FRANCISCO — Evan Longoria, who called Oracle Park home for five seasons, hammered a 436-foot home run onto the netting in center field on the second pitch he saw Friday night in his return with the Arizona Diamondbacks. His former teammates took the slugging from there, though.
A line drive shot from rookie catcher Patrick Bailey, who hadn’t played above High-A during Longoria’s tenure in a Giants uniform, put the finishing touches on a five-run sixth inning that proved to be the difference in the San Francisco’s 8-5 win to start a three-game weekend series against the leaders of the National League West.
With their 11th win in their past 12 games, the Giants (43-33) pulled within 2½ games of the D-backs (46-31) for the division lead. Brandon Crawford made a sensational diving play behind the bag at second base to record the final out, clinching Camilo Doval’s National League-leading 21st save.
After scoring at least seven runs in seven of the first eight games of their eventual 10-game winning streak, the Giants had been held to four or fewer over their past three contests, including a shutout loss Thursday that snapped the streak. Michael Conforto drove in four runs by himself Friday, leading a balanced attack with a pair of two-RBI doubles, while Bailey, LaMonte Wade Jr. (in his first game back from a brief absence due to side tightness) and J.D. Davis all contributed multiple hits.
Conforto got the Giants on the board with a two-run double in the third, then traded places with Blake Sabol, whose two-bagger bounced over the wall. In the sixth, Conforto came to the plate as the first batter against reliever Joe Mantiply, after ineffective starter Zach Davies allowed the first three batters to reach base. He ripped a line drive into the right field corner, driving home Joc Pederson and Davis, who doubled home the first run of the inning.
Conforto’s four RBIs were his most in a game since signing a two-year, $36 million free-agent contract this past offseason.
Bailey’s homer, which traveled 399 feet to left field and made it 8-4, was his fourth since being called up, driving home his 21st and 22nd runs. Only two Giants rookies have ever driven in more runs in their first 27 games in the majors: Willie McCovey (24) and Orlando Cepeda (23).
Longoria’s second-inning homer came against a misplaced sinker from Logan Webb, whose locker last season was only a few stalls away in the home clubhouse here. Perhaps summoning some revenge-game strength, the homer was Longoria’s third-longest outside of Coors Field since 2019.
But, at the plate as the tying run with two outs and two on in the eighth, Longoria watched Tyler Rogers’ slider scrape the bottom of the strike zone for the third out of the inning.
The Giants were clearly happy to see their former teammate, who may have earned some bragging rights with his home run but not quite the same as with a win. During a replay review in the first inning to determine whether Joc Pederson had beaten out a double-play ground ball, Pederson walked across the infield to chat with Longoria at third base.
Following Longoria’s homer, Webb settled in to complete seven innings for the ninth time in his past 11 starts. Crossing the century mark for the season, Webb leads the majors in innings pitched (105⅔) while holding the eighth-best ERA in the NL (3.16).
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