SAN DIEGO (AP) - The San Francisco Giants look like a whole different team than they did five days ago.
Evan Longoria and Alex Dickerson hit consecutive home runs in the third inning and the Giants scored four runs during an unusual rally in the sixth to beat the San Diego Padres 7-5 Wednesday night for their first three-game sweep of the season.
They’ve scored 40 runs in their four-game winning streak, and fell just three runs short of scoring in double digits in four straight games for the first time since 1929.
“Obviously it’s a lot of fun as an offense when it seems like everything is clicking and guys are getting on base, getting big hits and putting runs on the board,” said Longoria, who homered four times in the series. “It takes a lot of pressure off everybody, I think. When you’re not scoring early in the year, we were really struggling to get guys on and get hits in those situations, it’s just a ton of pressure going to the plate every time thinking you’ve got to hit a home run or double or do something special to kind of ignite the team.”
“Having fun helps a lot,” he added.
San Francisco, last in the NL West, has swept two-game series against Toronto and San Diego this season but this was the first three-game sweep.
Hunter Renfroe hit his 25th home run and rookie Fernando Tatis Jr. his 12th for the Padres, who have lost four straight.
Longoria hit a two-run shot to left-center estimated at 430 feet off rookie Cal Quantrill with two outs in the third. Dickerson, from suburban Poway, followed two pitches later with a 422-foot shot to right-center for a 3-2 lead. It was the first time the Giants hit consecutive homers this season. It was Longoria’s 11th and Dickerson’s third.
Dickerson was designated for assignment by the Padres on June 5 and traded to San Francisco on June 10. He was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on June 21.
“It felt good,” Dickerson said. “It was awesome getting to follow up Longo with one right after. Knowing he hit a home run off an off speed pitch I was pretty sure I was getting fastballs there and I was able to just jump one of them. It felt good rounding the bases and hearing the crowd cheering and everything.”
The Giants often have good fan turnout in San Diego. Dickerson said he left tickets only for his family but heard from about 25 to 30 friends who were there.
Trevor Gott (5-0) pitched a perfect fifth for the win. Will Smith pitched a perfect ninth for his 22nd save.
Tatis Jr. put the Padres ahead 4-3 when he drove a pitch from rookie Shaun Anderson an estimated 406 feet to the second deck in left-center with two outs in the fourth.
After Padres reliever Luis Perdomo (1-1) got Dickerson to hit into an inning-ending double play with the bases loaded in the fifth, the right-hander gave up four runs during an odd Giants rally in the sixth.
Facing Kevin Pillar with one out, the batter tried to call time but wasn’t given it. Perdomo apparently thought time had been called and lobbed a pitch toward the plate, hitting Pillar to put him on. Perdomo retired Joe Panik before Donovan Solano hit an RBI double and pinch-hitter Pablo Sandoval followed with another RBI double that center fielder Wil Myers lost in the twilight. Brandon Belt followed with an RBI double and Austin Slater with a run-scoring single.
“That was the most routine fly ball ever hit to a center fielder,” Myers said. “If I would’ve saw it I would’ve caught it. There’s definitely a five-to-10-minute window in pretty much every big league ballpark where the sky gets gray. When that ball gets above the lights it’s tough to see.
“Everybody was talking, we knew the situation. It was just a bad timing play right there.”
Manager Andy Green said it was “a weird sky tonight. There were a couple balls in the air we couldn’t see in the dugout, too. It’s a part of baseball. It happens periodically. It’s a painful time for that to happen in the game.”
San Diego took a 2-0 lead on RBI singles by Myers and Austin Hedges in the second. They tied it at 3 on Hunter Renfroe’s RBI double with two outs in the third. Renfroe was thrown out at home by rookie right fielder Mike Yastrzemski on Greg Garcia’s single to end the inning. It was the first career outfield assist for the grandson of Hall of Famer Carl Yastrzemski.
Renfroe homered to right-center off Tony Watson with one out in the eighth to pull the Padres within two runs. He and Garcia had three hits apiece.
Anderson allowed four runs and eight hits in four innings. Quantrill gave up three runs and five hits in 4 1/3 frames.
HOLIDAY
With the Giants not scheduled to play on the Fourth of July for the first time since 1941, manager Bruce Bochy gets to spend an extra day at his suburban San Diego home. He’s retiring at the end of this season, his 25th as a big league manager. Bochy, who managed the Padres for 12 seasons, said his whole family is in town.
HOME RUN DERBY SNUB
Padres sluggers Franmil Reyes (25) and Renfroe (25) were not invited to the Home Run Derby despite being among the MLB’s leaders.
ROSTER MOVES
The Giants optioned RHP Tyler Beede to Triple-A Sacramento and recalled RHP Ray Black from Triple-A.
UP NEXT
Giants: Have a rare Fourth of July off. LHP Drew Pomeranz (2-8, 6.25) is scheduled to start the opener of a three-game home series Friday night against St. Louis, which counters with RHP Dakota Hudson (6-4, 3.40).
Padres: RHP Dinelson Lamet is scheduled to start the opener of a four-game series at the Los Angeles Dodgers, marking his return from Tommy John surgery that sidelined him the entire 2018 season. The NL West-leading Dodgers are expected to counter with Hyun-Jin Ryu (9-2, 1.83).
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