San Francisco Giant Thairo Estrada is greeted by teammates in the Giants dugout after scoring in the top of the seventh inning against the Miami Marlins at LoanDepot Park in Maimi on Wed Apr 17, 2024 (AP News photo)

Wednesday, April 17, 2024

LoanDepot Park

Miami, Florida

San Francisco Giants 3 (8-11)

Miami Marlins 1 (4-15)

Win: Kyle Harrison (2-1)

Loss: Declan Cronin (0-2)

Save: Camilo Doval (3)

Time: 2:24

Attendance: 8,290

By Stephen Ruderman

Keaton Winn pitched six solid innings, and the Giants were able to squeeze out a series win in Miami with a 3-1 getaway win over the Marlins.

The Giants, who have been off to a slow start this season, came into Miami after losing two out of three to the Tampa Bay Rays at Tropicana Field to face a Marlins team off to a horrendous start. This was a golden opportunity for the Giants and their offense to finally get things going.

However, things have been much more difficult for the Giants than they would have hoped. The Giants were able to come back from down 3-0 to beat the Marlins in a weird game Monday night, but they dropped the second game of the series last night.

Today, the Giants turned to Keaton Winn to try and take the series in a getaway Wednesday afternoon affair in Miami. Winn and the Giants would be opposed by the left-hander, Trevor Rogers.

Rogers set the Giants down 1-2-3 in the top of the first inning, and Winn pitched a scoreless bottom of the first thanks to his defense after giving up a one-out base-hit to Bryan De La Cruz.

Jorge Soler lined a single up the middle and into center field to start the second. Matt Chapman struck out swinging, and then Thairo Estrado hit a double down the left field line to score Soler.

Jesus Sanchez singled to right to start the bottom of the second, but Winn retired the side in order. The game turned into a pitcher’s duel in the early going, as Winn set down nine-straight after Sanchez’s single, and Rogers retired 11-straight Giants after Estrada’s RBI double.

Winn’s streak came to an end when Tim Anderson legged out an infield single to lead off the bottom of the fifth, but Winn got out of it thanks to a fly out by Nick Gordon, and a 6-4-3 double play off the bat of Otto Lopez.

Tyler Fitzgerald lined a base-hit to left to start the sixth. Austin Slater struck out swinging, and Wilmer Flores fouled out, but Jung-hoo Lee reached on an infield hit to the shortstop. That would do it for Trevor Rogers, and Marlins Manager Skip Schumaker brought in Declan Cronin. Soler walked to load the bases, but Chapman grounded out to second to end the inning.

The Giants’ offense had wasted another opportunity, which they have done far too many times in the early going here in 2024, and it would come back to bite them in the bottom of the sixth. Winn retired the first two men he faced in the bottom of the sixth, but De La Cruz tied the game with an opposite-field home run to right.

Cronin was back out for the Marlins in the top of the seventh, and he was right back in trouble, as Estrada and Patrick Bailey both singled to put runners at the corners with nobody out for the Giants.

Nick Ahmed came up and reached for an outside slider that he sharply hit off the end of the bat up the middle, but Marlins’ second-baseman Luis Arraez dove to hit right, stepped on second and threw to first for the 4-3 double play. The Giants did retake the lead on the play, but it was a tremendous play by Arraez, and a tough break for the Giants.

Erik Miller came in and threw a 1-2-3 bottom of the seventh, and Anthony Bender replaced Cronin for the top of the eighth. Bender retired LaMonte Wade and Wilmer Flores to start the inning, but Lee and Soler singled to put runners at first and second with two outs for Chapman, who doubled to right to score Lee.

The Giants led 3-1 in the bottom of the eighth, as Bob Melvin turned to his submariner, Tyler Rogers. Rogers got Nick Gordon to ground out to first, but Avisail Garcia and Emmanuel Rivera singled with one out to put Rogers on the ropes. Fortunately for Rogers, he was able to get Luis Arraez to ground into a 4-6-3 double play to get out of the inning.

Sixto Sanchez came in and walked Patrick Bailey to start the ninth. Bailey even stole second, but Ahmed and Tyler Fitzgerald were both called out on strikes, and Mike Yastrzemski flew out to left to end the inning.

Camilo Doval came in to try and notch down his third save of the season, and he pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth to close this one out. It wasn’t easy, but the Giants were able to take two out of three from the Marlins to win just their second series of the season.

Winn got his first win of the season; Cronin got the loss; and Doval got his third save.

The Giants improve to 8-11, and they will indeed have a happy flight home, as they will begin a 10-game homestand tomorrow night against the defending National League Pennant Winners, the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Giants will send their ace, Logan Webb, to the mound against the Diamondbacks at Oracle Park tomorrow night with first pitch at 6:45 p.m.