Giants Baseball Insider

Mitch Haniger, Brett Wisely homer in SF Giants 15-1 win over Brewers

The SF Giants are above .500 for the first time this season after a blowout victory over the Milwaukee Brewers on Friday night.

Marc Delucchi

Mitch Haniger, Brett Wisely homer in SF Giants 15-1 win over Brewers
Mitch Haniger, Brett Wisely homer in SF Giants 15-1 win over Brewers /
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The SF Giants dominated the Milwaukee Brewers in a 15-1 victory on Friday night. In their largest victory since 2021, the Giants racked up 19 hits, nine for extra bases, including three home runs. Left-handed starter Alex Wood prevented the Brewers lineup from keeping up and allowed San Francisco to coast to a low-stress win. The Giants have won nine of their past 11 games and are above .500 for the first time this season. They are now 4.5 games back of the Dodgers for first place in the National League West.

SF Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood throws during the first inning of their game against the Milwaukee Brewers on May 26, 2023.
SF Giants starter Alex Wood pitches during the first inning on May 26, 2023 :: MARK HOFFMAN/MILWAUKEE JOURNAL SENTINEL / USA TODAY NETWORK

In Wood's third start since coming off the injured list, the Giants lefty pitched into the sixth inning for the first time this season, throwing a season-high 93 pitches. Despite a massive early lead, Wood did struggle with control throughout his outing, issuing five walks in an outing for the first time since 2017. With that said, the Brewers struggled to square up Wood's pitches, managing just three hits against him over his 5.2 innings of work. He also racked up five strikeouts.

The Brewers got the scoring started in the bottom of the first inning. Wood allowed a lead-off single to former Giants slugger Darin Ruf before walking the next two hitters to load the bases with nobody out. Quickly in a jam, Wood induced a 6-3 double play from Christian Yellich that effectively killed the rally while only allowing one run to score. Wood retired the next hitter to end the inning relatively unscathed.

It did not take the Giants long to counter. After Michael Conforto walked to lead off the top of the second inning, Mitch Haniger blasted his first home run this season outside of Mexico City, giving the Giants a 2-1 lead.

Already ahead, the Giants had just begun to get rolling against Brewers starting pitcher Freddy Peralta. Mike Yastrzemski came inches away from a homer but settled for a double and came around to score on an RBI single by Patrick Bailey (Giants #21 prospect).

After Wood retired the Brewers in order at the bottom of the second, things began to shift. Two of the first four Giants hitters in the top of the third reached on errors while the other two (J.D. Davis and Haniger) doubled to extend the Giants' lead to 6-1. Single by Bailey and Casey Schmitt (Giants #3 prospect) set the stage for Brett Wisely (Giants #22 prospect) to break the game open with a three-run homer. It's just his second-career big-league homer and continued a trend of Wisely performing far better at the plate when he plays second base.

While the Brewers were already trailing in the bottom of the second inning, they never seemed to recover from a scary moment. Brewers third baseman Brian Anderson fouled a pitch off from Wood into the home dugout, striking Milwaukee infielder Willy Adames. Adames was able to walk after the incident, according to the Giants NBC Sports Bay Area broadcast, but he was rushed to the hospital to undergo additional tests.

Even with the end result likely decided, the Giants continued adding to their lead for much of the remaining game. Schmitt and Conforto each recorded RBI singles to give San Francisco a 12-1 lead. Then, Davis blasted a towering two-run home run against Brewers reliever Ethan Small in the top of the seventh for his ninth blast of the season. Davis was one of four Giants hitters to record at least three hits on the day.

With such a massive lead, Giants manager Gabe Kapler was able to give his best relievers a much-needed day off after Thursday's shutout. Tristan Beck (Giants #19 prospect) relieved Wood in the sixth and allowed just one hit across 3.1 shutout innings of work with two strikeouts.

Now 26-25 on the season, the SF Giants will look to keep their winning ways going tomorrow in Milwaukee. The Giants will have their ace, Logan Webb, on the hill facing 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner Corbin Burnes. First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 PM Pacific.

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Marc Delucchi
MARC DELUCCHI

Marc Delucchi (he/they/she) serves as the Managing Editor at Giants Baseball Insider, leading their SF Giants coverage. As a freelance journalist, he has previously covered the San Francisco Giants at Around the Foghorn and McCovey Chronicles. He also currently contributes to Niners Nation, Golden State of Mind, and Baseball Prospectus. He has previously been featured in several other publications, including SFGate, ProFootballRumors, Niners Wire, GrandStand Central, Call to the Pen, and Just Baseball. Over his journalistic career, Marc has conducted investigations into how one prep baseball player lost a college opportunity during the pandemic (Baseball Prospectus) and the rampant mistreatment of players at the University of Hawaii football program under former head coach Todd Graham (SFGate). He has also broken dozens of news stories around professional baseball, primarily around the SF Giants organization, including the draft signing of Kyle Harrison, injuries and promotions to top prospects like Heliot Ramos, and trade details in the Kris Bryant deal. Marc received a Bachelor's degree from Kenyon College with a major in economics and a minor in Spanish. During his time in college, he conducted a summer research project attempting to predict the future minor-league performance of NCAA hitters, worked as a data analyst for the school's Women's basketball team, and worked as a play-by-play announcer/color commentator for the basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer teams. He also worked as an amateur baseball scout with the Collegiate Baseball Scouting Network (later renamed Evolution Metrix), scouting high school and college players for three draft cycles. For tips and inquiries, feel free to reach out to Marc directly on Twitter or via email (delucchimarc@gmail.com).

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