SF Giants secure second straight sweep, walk off Mariners to cap home-opening series

SAN FRANCISCO A sun-kissed sellout crowd celebrated more than just another Giants win Sunday at Oracle Park This - supremacy came in walk-off fashion it secured a sweep of their home-opening series against the Seattle Mariners and it extended baseball s longest-active win streak to seven straight W s The Giants after sweeping their previous three-game series in Houston own an - record their best since the club opened - Pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores delivered a two-out single in the ninth to amount Luis Mattos one pitch after a phenomenal catch injured Mariners right field Victor Robles Flores game-winner came was extra stunning considering the macabre scene it followed Robles daringly snared Patrick Bailey flyball for the Giants second out Matos tagged up and advanced from first to third on the play but a replay review moved Matos back to second base Robles had to be carted off the field after his left arm collided with the waist-high wall and foul-ball netting He took on a wall we ve never seen anyone take on in this park s -year history Mike Krukow declared on NBC Sports Bay Area s broadcast It was one of the bulk spectacular catches we ve seen in this ballpark Mike Yastrzemski whose three-run homer staked the Giants to a - lead in the fourth inning got the game-winning rally started with a leadoff four-pitch walk Matos then reached on a fielder s choice with Yastrzemski s slide into second base latest up a expected doubleplay Camilo Doval entered in the ninth seeking his third save of the season and he was one strike shy of doing that Instead clean-up hitter Randy Arozarena lined a two-out two-strike single over a leaping Matt Chapman at third thus driving in Victor Robles for the tying run Doval escaped an ensuing bases-loaded jam by getting Mitch Garver to pop out to Chapman Mike Yastrzemski s three-run homer put the Giants ahead - in the fourth inning and it came on an opposite-field approach that had just delivered singles by Jung Hoo Lee and Heliot Ramos the latter of whom drove in Willy Adames for the Giants first run of the day Yastrzemski s homer his first of the season came on a first-pitch belt-high fastball by Mariners starter Bryan Woo Melvin acknowledged pregame that the Giants would emphasize urgency at the plate against Woo an Oakland native who threw a first-pitch strike of the time last season for MLB s best mark since such tracking began in Flores has reached base in all nine of the Giants contest but he was out of the Giants lineup up until the ninth inning I can t run Flo out every single day I know it s just DH-ing and we re getting a lot of production out of him I want to keep him healthy Melvin stated pregame This was a good day to get Luis Matos in there get Heliot Ramos off his feet and give Flo a day off though I still have him coming off the bench After pitching six scoreless innings last week to win in his native Houston Jordan Hicks allowed a pair of solo home runs Sunday with Nos and batters Julio Rodriguez and Cal Raleigh going deep in the first and third innings respectively Hicks got pulled after pitches with one out in the sixth two men on base and a standing ovation from a sellout crowd in his first home start of the season Reliever Randy Rodriguez promptly yielded an RBI single to Ryan Bliss that trimmed the Giants lead to - Rodriguez failed to back up Luis Matos throw home that bounced past catcher Patrick Bailey and not only did that allow two Mariners to advance a base Matos got charged with an error only the Giants second all season Matos subsequently made a rally-ending catch near the third-base stands to preserve the - lead Seattle threatened to spoil things in the eighth with a pair of pinch-hit singles off Erik Miller but Matt Chapman started a - - doubleplay to end the threat Another web gem came earlier from the infield s left side when Adames in the fifth inning tracked down a Julio Rodriguez grounder in shallow center field and rifled a one-hop bullet in time to first baseman LaMonte Wade NEXT UP The Giants next host the Cincinnati Reds in a rematch of last week s season-opening series with Monday s starters the same as Encounter No in Logan Webb vs Hunter Greene Looming is a -game road trip against the New York Yankees the Philadelphia Phillies and the Los Angeles Angels HOT START Melvin traced the Giants hot start to a confluence of factors from long-time cohesion veteran guidance and a different approach which without naming names traces to Buster Posey s presence as president of baseball operations There is a cohesiveness to the unit this year Melvin reported pregame that we really didn t have at least to begin last year because guys were just coming in later Free agency and so forth were done later in the spring That the fact we have a little bit different way we re doing things and we re having chosen success it s a good vibe Melvin added We brought in particular guys that are big clubhouse presence in Willy Adames and Justin Verlander We have selected guys here that are signed for a long time It just feels it s put together a little differently Related Articles Lee continues early hot start as SF Giants extend win streak to six SF Giants Miller brought back old pitch and it s giving hitters new fits Kurtenbach SF Giants baseball is torture again Bring it on On Oracle Park s th birthday SF Giants ring in new era in multiple methods Adames hits walk-off in home debut as SF Giants extend winning streak