SAN FRANCISCO – The Giants returned home from New York on Monday to play the Philadelphia Phillies in an afternoon Memorial Day game, and shortstop Brett Wisely obviously brought his scorching-hot bat back with him from the East Coast.
The 25-year-old rookie had two hits and two RBIs in the Giants’ 8-4 victory over Philadelphia, handing the Major League-leading Phillies their third loss in the last 10 games. The Giants have now won nine of 11.
Starting in place of fellow rookie Marco Luciano, Wisely has gone 9-for-17 with five RBIs in his last four games.
Those big hits, plus Wisely’s steady fielding and three Phillies errors, helped the Giants win without any late-game heroics, as was almost custom during last week’s road trip.
“This offseason, I wanted to get (taller) with my stance and (lengthier) in my swing, and I feel like that’s helping me a lot with sliders and also with seeing the ball up,” Wisely said. “I’m not chasing as much low either, and I have to really key in on that.”
San Francisco (28-27) had to overcome some early troubles.
Reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell failed to make it out of the fifth inning, LaMonte Wade had to leave the game in the fifth with a leg injury, and the team blew an early three-run lead.
Wade will likely be placed on the injured list after he suffered a left hamstring injury on an attempted slide into second base on a double in the fifth inning.
Wade, who was hitting .333 with a .896 OPS before Monday, had to be helped off the field by team personnel. He was replaced by Wilmer Flores, and Giants manager Bob Melvin later said Wade will have an MRI tomorrow and that a stint on the IL is almost a certainty.
Wade’s injury somewhat dampened the Giants’ return to the Bay Area after they went 4-2 on a road trip that featured crazy comebacks and blown leads. One run decided four games, and another involved a five-run comeback.
Against the hard-hitting Phillies, the Giants got off to a hot start.
Snell breezed through the first two innings, giving up just one double and striking out three.
The southpaw, who is awaiting the birth of his first child, mixed a 97 mph fastball, a changeup that sat in the mid-80s, and a slow curve to keep the Phillies off balance.
“It’s such a mental battle when you’re pitching,” said Snell, who remains winless after signing a $62 million, two-year contract with the Giants in March. “The first couple of innings, you’ve got an aggressive mindset … second time through the lineup, I’m a little more cautious.”
Snell enjoyed an early 3-0 lead after Mike Yastrzemski doubled in two runs and Wisely singled home another in the second inning.
Snell’s groove was derailed in the third, starting with Kyle Schwarber’s two-run, no-doubt-about-it home run over the right field wall. His 10th homer of the season cut the deficit to one.
Philadelphia’s Edmundo Sosa tripled off Snell in the next inning before he raced home on a wild pitch to tie the game.
Snell didn’t get much help from his defense in the fourth inning when Whit Merrifield safely reached third after Giants third baseman Matt Chapman failed to field a routine grounder.
It was a rare mistake for the elite defender whose +8 DRS is third among all third-basemen.
Johan Rojas gave the Phillies the lead by blooping a full-count four-seam Snell fastball into center field.
Snell got through the rest of the 35-pitch fourth but was replaced by righthander Randy Rodriguez in the fifth. Snell struck out seven but allowed five hits and four runs in four innings.
“Traditionally, he’s a bit of a slow starter, and then once he gets his footing, he takes off like he did last year,” Melvin said of Snell. “He’s had an uneven spring and an uneven start to the season, and then an IL, and right now, he’s waiting for a baby.
“There’s a lot going on, but he’s not going to give an excuse for the performance.”
Rodriguez, who got his first win, Erik Miller, and Ryan Walker came out of the bullpen to finish the game for a team that does not have a probable starter listed for Tuesday and may need to rely on those arms again in the second game of the series.
Thairo Estrada took advantage of an Alec Bohm error to tie the game at 4-4 in the fifth inning.
Patrick Bailey then hit a sacrifice fly into deep left to give the Giants the 5-4 lead, and Wisely drove in another to pad out the lead in the sixth. The Giants added two more with a Heliot Ramos single to finish the scoring.
