San Francisco Giants Heliot Ramos praises the good Lord for his home run in the top of the fourth inning against the Minnesota Twins at Target Field in Minneapolis on Sun May 11, 2025 (AP News photo)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants (24-17) got swept by the Minnesota Twins (21-20) losing game three in ten innings 7-6. San Francisco had their bats working today and led for the first five innings of this game. The Giants had 9 hits in the game but the Twins were on task with 13 hits. Trailing going into the bottom of the tenth inning, the Twins had to come from behind for the walk-off.

Game recap: The Giants got game three off with a bang taking a 1-0 lead much the same as Saturday but Sunday there was something different; the San Francisco bats were connecting. They started the first inning going in the right direction.

Heliot Ramos hit a sacrifice and Mike Yastrzemski scored from third for the early lead. The Giants would add to their lead in the fourth inning when again Ramos connected, this time a two run home run taking a 3-0 lead.

Just when it was looking great for the Giants, the Twins checked in with a two run home run off the bat of Brooks Lee in the fourth inning driving in Trevor Larnach with San Francisco still leading 3-2.

The Giants got an insurance run in the fifth inning when the other Lee, Jung Hoo, hit a sacrifice fly and Yastrzemski scored from third base after advancing on a balk. Through five innings the Giants were really hitting.

Lee who had been quiet the past few games already had two hits and Matt Chapman was also having a good game. Ramos was having a killer game offensively hitting the home run in the fourth inning while also making some amazing diving catches robbing the Twins of hits.

After five innings the Giants struck again in the fifth inning when Lee sacrificed and Yastrzemski scored for a 4-2 tally. The Twins answered in the bottom of the fifth when another sacrifice drove a base runner over home plate. Byron Buxton hit the sacrifice and Kody Clemens scored. Going into the sixth inning the score was 4-3 in favor of the Giants.

The Giants starting pitcher Landon Roupp was relieved in the sixth inning by Erik Miller. Roupp had pitched five innings allowing six hits, three runs, no walks and three strikeouts. Roupp had three really good innings to start the game and gave up the three runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

Miller struggled from the start of the sixth inning. With no outs, the Twins had loaded the bases getting hits from Brooks Lee and Will Castro with Ryan Jeffers walking. Royce Lewis came to the plate and singled, Lee scored and this game was tied 4-4 still with no outs.

The Twins already had nine hits in this game. This was it for Miller and he was relieved by Camilo Doval. Doval’s first pitch resulted in San Francisco’s first out of the inning at home plate saving the go-ahead run.

The Giants got their second out at second base but Castro scored from third base taking their first lead of the game 5-4. With the bases still loaded San Francisco’s Doval got out of the inning, striking out Buxton and coming away with minimal damage.

The Giants had some coming back to do going into the seventh inning. San Francisco was facing a very solid pitcher in the Twins Louis Varland. Varland had a great inning retiring the Giants in order in this very close game. The Twins would face a new relief pitcher for the Giants Hayden Birdsong who has a nice mix of balls. Birdsong gave up a double to start the inning but got a strikeout for the third out getting out of the inning.

Willy Adames got his first hit of the series , a single, to start the eighth inning. Matt Chapman had his second hit of the game and the Giants had runners at first and second with Ramos at the plate.

Ramos came through big time hitting the ball hard and Adames scored tying up the game 5-5. With only one out, San Francisco had runners at the corners. The Giants could not take advantage of the scoring possibility and it was on to the ninth inning after the Twins were unable to take the lead in the bottom of the eighth inning.

The Giants had led for most of the game and were now fighting for this game. San Francisco went quietly in the ninth inning. Tyler Rogers would take the mound looking to keep the Twins off the scoreboard. Rogers struck out the top of the Twins batting order, Buxton, Larnach and France as this game went into extra innings.

One of the best closers in the game today Jhoan Duran took the mound for the Twins facing Chapman, Ramos and David Villar. Chapman singled with Lee advancing to third. Villar who has not had a lot of at bats came through grounding out but allowing Lee to score giving San Francisco a 6-5 lead. Wilmer Flores struck out for the third out. The Twins had one last inning to at least tie up this game.

Ryan Walker came into the game to try and close out the game for the Giants. San Francisco got the first out of the inning at first base but France scored from third to tie up the game 6-6. Lightning struck when Dashawn Keirsey Jr. singled and Brooks Lee scored for the walk off 7-6.

Game notes: After losing the first two games of their series with the Twins, the Giants came into this game with one purpose in mind and that is to avoid the sweep. The Giants have not been swinging the bats very well. They had three hits in the first game and four in the second game and needed more to win the third game.

The Giants while they scored six runs and a two run 6-5 lead going to the bottom of the tenth inning couldn’t get closer Ryan Walker to close the door on the Twins. Walker allowed one earned run and two hits as the Twins scored twice in a walk off to sweep the Giants on Sunday.

This was a tough loss for San Francisco in game three compounded with getting swept in this series. The Giants will now head back to San Francisco and try to regroup and prepare to take on the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game series that will get underway Monday evening. Justin Verlander (0-2 ERA 4.50) will take the mound for San Francisco and the Diamondbacks will start Merrill Kelly (3-2 ERA 4.09). First pitch for the game is scheduled for 6:45 PM.