Michael Conforto hit a two-run, go-ahead home run in the seventh inning to lead the San Francisco Giants to their third straight win, a 4-3 victory over the Minnesota Twins on Tuesday night in Minneapolis.
It was the second straight game that Conforto, who also doubled, hit what proved to be a game-winning home run for San Francisco.
Patrick Bailey and Bryce Johnson each drove in runs with bases-loaded walks and LaMonte Wade Jr. had two hits for the Giants, who reached the .500 mark (24-24) for the first time since April 6 with their seventh win in the last eight games.
Alex Cobb (4-1) picked up the win, allowing three runs on six hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out eight. Camilo Doval hit a batter but struck out the side in the ninth to earn his 13th save.
Byron Buxton went 2-for-4 with a home run, a stolen base and two RBIs and Michael A. Taylor also homered for Minnesota, which lost for the fifth time in its last six games. Jorge Lopez (1-2) suffered the loss.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on Buxton’s 10th home run of the season, a 408-foot two-run drive into the bullpen in left center. The hit extended Buxton’s on-base streak to 23 games.
After Taylor made it 3-0 in the fifth when he clubbed his sixth home run of the season, San Francisco parlayed four walks and a Conforto double into two runs to cut the lead to 3-2.
J.D. Davis opened the sixth with a walk and then took third on Conforto’s double. Mitch Haniger then walked to load the bases and chase Twins starter Sonny Gray.
Reliever Jovani Moran looked like he would get out of the jam when he got Casey Schmitt to fly out to shallow center and retired pinch hitter Wilmer Flores on a strikeout. But Moran then walked Bailey on four pitches to force in Davis, and Johnson followed with another walk off reliever Brock Stewart to drive in Conforto.
Stewart then bounced back from a 2-0 count to strike out Wade and end the threat.
Conforto then gave the Giants their first lead in the seventh with a towering two-run home run to left off Lopez, driving in Thairo Estrada, who had doubled. It was Conforto’s 10th homer of the season.
–Field Level Media
