SAN FRANCISCO — Kyle Harrison pitched five strong innings, Brett Wisely had three hits and two RBIs, and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Minnesota Twins 7-1 on Friday night.
The Giants had lost four of five to start the game, but Harrison (5-4) improved to 4-2 in games following a Giants loss. He wisely went 3-for-3 with a walk, finished a home run short of the cycle and grabbed the shortstop in the fifth to take a run away.
Harrison’s offspeed pitches were working well, according to manager Bob Melvin.
“It was the quality of the fastball at the top of the zone and the mix of changeup and throwing the ball — and throwing some for strikes, too,” Melvin said.
Harrison, helped by stellar defensive plays from Wisely and Heliot Ramos, kept the Twins — who entered the game second in the American League in batting average — off the scoreboard in the fifth inning.
Harrison, in his first full major league season, said he had a pretty healthy workload in the first half.
“I think there’s room to improve on a lot of things – just throwing strikes, punching guys, I think that’s my goal for the second half: increasing the punches, but I think it’s pretty good overall,” Harrison said.
San Francisco led off two batters in the first after Jorge Soler led off with a triple and LaMonte Wade Jr hit him with a sacrifice fly. Wisely and Mike Yastrzemski drove in runs in the second, and Soler had an RBI single in the fifth to give the Giants a 4-0 lead. Michael Conforto hit a two-run double in the seventh to increase the lead to 7-1.
Wisely entered the game having hit .171 in his previous 10 games.
“Today, I tried to go out there and play with the kids,” Wisely said. “Get out of my way and have fun with it. Sometimes when that happens you get results, but I wasn’t chasing results. I was trying to have fun and just have fun.”
Twins starter Joe Ryan (6-6) allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six and also recorded his 500th career strikeout. Willi Castro knocked in Minnesota’s only run in the fifth on an RBI groundout.
Ryan said his pitches were working well, but admitted he was tired from long innings.
“I can’t get as deep into the game because of that, and I just ran out of steam a little quicker,” Ryan said.
A COME HOME (OF A KIND)
Twins star Carlos Correa was greeted by boos from Giants fans, who recalled that the shortstop agreed to a 13-year, $350 million contract with the Giants in 2022 only for him to fall apart on the morning of the introductory press conference, when issues emerged around Correa’s ankle during his physical exam. Correa then quickly signed with the Mets, who also opted out for similar reasons before returning to the Twins.
Correa, who played in San Francisco on Friday for the first time since the fiasco, said he was happy with the Twins. He entered the game batting .310 with 13 home runs and made the All-Star team for the third time.
“I was excited to explore the city,” Correa said. “I was looking at houses and everything. So that part was exciting. But once it didn’t work out, it was time to move on.”
TRAINER’S ROOM
Twins: 3B José Miranda, originally in the lineup, was scratched before the first pitch due to tightness in his lower back. … INF Kyle Farmer (right shoulder strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, and catcher Jair Camargo was recalled from Triple-A St. Louis.
NEXT
Giants RHP Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 4.40 ERA) is scheduled to pitch against Twins RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.48 ERA) on Saturday.
___
This story originally appeared on ABCNews.go.com read the full story
