Slater hits tiebreaking HR, Giants beat Padres 5-4

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Austin Slater hit a tiebreaking homer in the seventh inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 5-4 Friday night.

Slater led off the inning with an opposite-field drive to right against right-hander Keone Kela (2-2). Slater scored three runs despite entering the game in a 3-for-25 slide, including 11 straight hitless at-bats before the homer.

Buster Posey hit a two-run homer and Evan Longoria had a two-run single for the Giants, who improved to 11-3 at Oracle Park this season.

San Francisco moved 1 1/2 games ahead of San Diego for the NL West lead on a night they celebrated Hall of Famer Willie Mays a day after his 90th birthday.

Camilo Doval (1-1) pitched a scoreless seventh for the win, and Jake McGee closed out his eighth save with three strikeouts in the ninth.

The Giants jumped ahead 4-0 on Posey’s homer in the third inning off starter Blake Snell and Longoria’s two-run hit in the fifth off right-hander Austin Adams. Posey’s opposite-field drive to right was his eighth homer of the year, already exceeding his 2019 total of seven. The six-time All-Star sat out last season due to family concerns caused by the pandemic.

Snell lasted 4 2/3 innings and was charged with four runs.

San Diego pulled even in the sixth. Giants starter Anthony DeSclafani entered the inning with a one-hitter, but that evaporated as Trent Grisham belted a two-run homer. Eric Hosmer also clobbered a two-run homer off Sam Selman.

Mays was ferried for a lap around the warning track in a classic, aquamarine blue-and-cream-colored 1956 Oldsmobile. Recorded tributes to Mays from numerous celebrities inside and outside of baseball appeared before and throughout the game. A partial list: former President George W. Bush, baseball commissioners Bud Selig...

source https://www.chron.com/sports/article/Slater-hits-tiebreaking-HR-Giants-beat-Padres-5-4-16161644.php