Jordan Hicks worked six strong innings, Nick Ahmed collected three hits, including two with runners in scoring position, and the host San Francisco Giants salvaged one win in their three-game series against the Washington Nationals with a 7-1 victory on Wednesday afternoon.
Catcher Tyler Fitzgerald also had three hits while Michael Conforto and Matt Chapman contributed two apiece to a 12-hit attack, helping the Giants score more than four runs for the first time since the third game of the season.
Hicks (2-0), who has been San Francisco’s top pitcher in the early going, didn’t need all the support, limiting the Nationals to one run and four hits. He walked two and struck out two.
Washington’s only run came on Joey Gallo’s third home run of the season in the second inning. The Nationals, who won games 8-1 and 5-3 to open the series, had the only three homers of the set.
The Giants took the lead for good against Washington starter Patrick Corbin (0-2) in the bottom of the second when, with two outs, Ahmed tripled in Chapman and Fitzgerald plated Ahmed with a single. After Fitzgerald stole second and third, Austin Slater drove home a third run.
All three hits had come with a runner in scoring position, a situation in which the Giants had been 1-for-16 in the first two games of the series. They went 6-for-8 in those opportunities on Wednesday.
San Francisco added two runs apiece in the fifth and sixth innings. Conforto’s two-out RBI single highlighted the fifth before Ahmed had a run-scoring base hit as part of the uprising in the sixth.
Corbin was pulled two outs into the sixth, charged with seven runs on 11 hits in 5 2/3 innings. He struck out two and did not walk a batter.
Batting eighth and ninth in the order, respectively, Ahmed and Fitzgerald both finished 3-for-3. Ahmed’s day included three runs to complement his two RBIs, while Fitzgerald had a double and scored twice.
Chapman also scored two runs for the Giants, who had totaled 10 runs in the first five outings of their just-completed, six-game homestand.
The hosts outhit the Nationals 12-4, ending Washington’s three-game winning streak.
–Field Level Media