SAN FRANCISCO — Nobody throws more split-fingered fastballs than Keaton Winn, and the rookie let 31 more fly in his third straight quality start.
Winn, the rookie from Iowa, allowed three hits in six strong innings. Thairo Estrada and Mike Yastrzemski combined for San Francisco’s first back-to-back homers of the season, supporting the starter. After Winn departed, a pair of rookie relievers and Camilo Doval protected the two-run lead Winn left with.
Doval allowed a run and put the go-ahead runner on first with a pitch clock violation — a consistent bugaboo for him — but still escaped in the top of the ninth.
The Giants (14-15) walked off the Pirates in the series opener and held them off in the finale in a 3-2 win, taking two of three from Pittsburgh. They’ve won two straight series and can get through an up-and-down April at .500 with a win on Tuesday in Boston.
Winn lowered his ERA to 3.18 on the season. If the rookie can continue to perform like he has the past few turns, he’ll add even more depth to what looks to be a major strength for the Giants. San Francisco’s starters rank 10th in ERA, and that’s as reigning Cy Young winner Blake Snell has struggled and Robbie Ray and Alex Cobb remain on the injured list.
Hitting, especially for power, has been an issue for San Francisco, though. The Giants didn’t touch rookie Jared Jones through the first two innings, as he faced the minimum six batters. The Mirada, CA native who pairs a 100-mph four seamer with a bending slider entered with a 2.79 ERA.
But in the third, the Giants got to Pittsburgh’s rookie. Estrada led off the third inning by smacking Jones’ first pitch over the left field wall.
The solo shot was Estrada’s fourth on the season, as he’s starting to heat up after a slow start.
Also heating up: Mike Yastrzemski. Right after Estrada rounded the bases, the right fielder cracked a 402-foot dinger to straightaway center.
Yastrzemski started the season 1-for-20, but has since batted over .300. His OPS, which cratered to .154 in the early-season slog, is up to .656 in less than a month.
Consecutive singles and a LaMonte Wade Jr. sacrifice fly gave the Giants a 3-0 lead after three innings. The way Winn was pitching, three runs inspired confidence.
Winn struck out the side in the third and then needed 12 pitches to retire the side when he retook the mound with the three-run cushion.
Winn surrendered a run in the top of the fifth, but otherwise twirled out of trouble with a groundout and two punchouts. Apart from Rowdy Tellez’s lined double, Winn’s sinker-splitter combination kept the ball on the ground. Eight of Winn’s 20 called strikes or whiffs came on his go-to splitter.
Related Articles
SF Giants waste magical performance by Jordan Hicks, fall to Pirates in extras
After rough ending to rookie season, Patrick Bailey is thriving again: ‘Baseball is a tough game; it beats you up’
Walk-off! Patrick Bailey’s ninth-inning heroics save SF Giants on night Joey Bart returns and Kyle Harrison shines
What former SF Giant Joey Bart said before his first game back at Oracle Park
Minority stake in San Francisco Giants targets team at $4 billion valuation
As manager Bob Melvin mused pregame, Winn had just pitched into the seventh inning for the first time in his life in his last turn of the rotation. The righty pitched even better against the Pirates, but Melvin replaced Winn with reliever Erik Miller to start the seventh.
Given late-inning options Camilo Doval and Tyler Rogers had each pitched in the first two games of the Pirates series, it was curious that the Giants didn’t try to steal an extra inning out of Winn, who only threw 80 pitches and showed no signs of fatigue.
Melvin’s move didn’t come with harm, though. Miller worked a scoreless seventh, and Ryan Walker followed him with a quick eighth. Then Doval, in his third straight game, looked shaky but got the final out on a checked swing to secure his fifth save — and the series.
