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Michael Conforto sparks SF Giants barrage in 16-6 win over White Sox

The SF Giants wrapped up their first road trip of the season with another home run barrage, defeating the White Sox 16-6.

Marc Delucchi

Michael Conforto sparks SF Giants barrage in 16-6 win over White Sox
Michael Conforto sparks SF Giants barrage in 16-6 win over White Sox /
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The SF Giants defeated the Chicago White Sox 16-6 on Thursday afternoon, finishing their road trip with a series victory. Despite sitting at an even 3-3 in the standings, the Giants offense is showing elite power early in the season. They blasting five more home runs on Thursday, giving them a league-leading 15 on the season.

Giants right fielder Michael Conforto got the scoring started in the top of the first inning against White Sox starter Lance Lynn. A two-out double by second baseman David Villar put runners on second and third for Conforto. While the offseason signing quickly fell behind 1-2, Conforto pounced on a hanging cutter down the middle for a three-run homer. He finished the day 3-for-4 with two runs, three RBI, and a walk.

In the top of the second inning, another offseason acquisition, catcher Blake Sabol (Giants #33 prospect) extended the Giants lead with another two-out homer. Sabol, who was 1-for-12 entering the day, had yet to record a big-league hit outside of a bunt single. In his first trip to the plate on Thursday, Sabol blasted a 90 mph cutter 434' feet to straightaway center field for his first career big-league home run. Sabol would add two more singles to his statline before the day was done.

Joc Pederson drove in a pair of runs in the fourth inning, but Mike Yastrzemski would finish off Lynn's outing in the fifth. Yaz jumped all over a low-90s heater in the middle of the plate for his second home run of the season.

The White Sox bullpen barely fared better than Lynn. Righty José Ruiz allowed a pair of runs over 1.1 innings of work, surrendering a homer to first baseman Wilmer Flores. Flores finished the game 2-for-5 with a walk.

The White Sox turned to infielder Hanser Alberto to save their bullpen in the top of the ninth inning. The Giants did not show mercy to their former teammate. Alberto surrendered several hits, capped off by third baseman J.D. Davis blasting a grand slam.

With the offense doing so much heavy lifting, the Giants pitchers were able to cruise through the lower stress innings. Southpaw Alex Wood got the start, making his first appearance of the season. Taking the mound with a 3-0 lead, Wood was in the perfect position to ease into regular season action.

SF Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood delivers against the Chicago White Sox during the first inning. (2023)
SF Giants starting pitcher Alex Wood pitches against the White Sox. (2023) / Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

Slowed down by an injury, Wood did not build up to a normal starter's usage over the course of spring training, putting him on a tight pitch count in the 65-75 range. With a limited number of pitches available, Wood fell victim to a fielding error by shortstop Thairo Estrada in the bottom of the second inning. Estrada was filling in for Brandon Crawford, who was out with left forearm tightness.

With one out and a runner on first, Estrada fumbled what could have been a potential inning-ending double play. Instead, Estrada was unable to record even one out on the play. Wood struck out the next hitter, but a double steal put runners on second and third for White Sox shortstop Tim Anderson to drive in two runs with a two-out RBI single.

Wood was far from the sharpest version of himself on Thursday, but given his limited workload this spring, the Giants offense gave him the perfect opportunity to continue ramping up without hurting their place in the standings. Wood was replaced by swingman Jakob Junis in the fourth inning after allowing a pair of hits to Seby Zavala and Romy Gonzalez. Wood finished the day with three strikeouts across 3+ innings of work, surrendering three runs (one earned) on six hits and two walks.

Junis allowed one of his inherited runners to score, but was fantastic otherwise. In the middle of an eight-day stretch without a day off, Giants manager Gabe Kapler hoped to limit his bullpen's usage, and Junis enabled him to do just that. He allowed two hits and two walks over four shutout innings with four strikeouts.

John Brebbia struck out a pair across a perfect inning of work in the eighth, before Kapler asked bench corner bat Matt Beaty to finish things out. Beaty struck out White Sox outfielder Oscar Colas and quickly recorded the second out of the inning, but surrendered three runs before he finished things off.

After improving to 3-3, the SF Giants will now hop on a plane headed home. They will host the Kansas City Royals in their first home games of the season, starting tomorrow with first pitch scheduled for 1:35 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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