SF Giants Press Clips Saturday, June 10, 2017

San Francisco Chronicle Reliever Sam Dyson seeks rebound with Giants John Shea Sam Dyson saved 38 games for the 2016 Rangers and pitched six perfect innings in the World Baseball Classic, but his numbers in this season’s first two months were awful. Now he’s a Giant, added to the roster Friday three days after he was acquired in a trade for a player to be named later. “Getting back to the basics and using the sinker and stop trying to reinvent stuff to get guys out,” Dyson said of his mission. “Don’t second-guess the reason why I’m here and go out there and pitch.” Dyson was 1-6 with a 10.80 ERA, giving up 31 hits and issuing 12 walks in 162/3 innings, before being designated for assignment June 2. Buster Posey caught Dyson in the WBC, and Dyson said, “It’s reassuring to have someone behind the plate who’s confident with what you do. I’m not saying anyone with Texas wasn’t confident, but I had some poor outings. It was tough to reassure everybody from day to day that I was the guy.” Posey, manager Bruce Bochy, pitching coach Dave Righetti and others undoubtedly will be watching Dyson to look for ways to help the right-hander rebound. Dyson threw on the side before Friday’s game. To create roster space for Dyson, utilityman Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento. He’s back: Chris Heston was in the Twins’ clubhouse looking at video of Giants hitters on the second anniversary of his no-hitter for the Giants against the Mets in New York. “Two years later, I’m back in San Francisco. It’s exciting. That was a fun night. There were definitely things going right that night,” said Heston, who continues to credit his defense and Posey’s pitch-calling. “I don’t think I shook him off one time. Just rolled with what he gave me.” Heston is an option to start Sunday. Wednesday, the Twins claimed him off waivers from the Dodgers, who claimed him off waivers from the Mariners on May 26. He was in the Dodger organization long enough to pitch three innings for Triple-A Oklahoma City.

Bumgarner on mound: Madison Bumgarner threw off a bullpen mound for the first time since suffering shoulder and rib injuries in a dirt-bike accident April 20. He threw 20 pitches, all fastballs, and is scheduled to pitch a couple of additional bullpen sessions before working a simulated game when the Giants play in Colorado next week. On deck Saturday vs. Twins 1:05 p.m. NBCSBA Berrios (4-1) vs. Samardzija (2-7) Sunday vs. Twins 1:05 p.m. NBCSBA Turley (0-0) vs. Cain (3-5) Monday Off Leading off Congrats: Infielder Conor Gillaspie (back spasms) took a break from his rehab as his wife, Amanda, gave birth to the couple’s second child, a boy named Nash Davis. San Francisco Chronicle Giants fail to solve Twins’ Ervin Santana, lose 4-0 John Shea The ball went upward, and the Giants’ season continued downward. Ervin Santana, who picked up a bat Friday night only because it’s a requirement in National League parks, walked to the plate, and on his first full swing of 2017 hit a lazy fly to right-center. The ball dropped between Denard Span and Hunter Pence, and three runners scored. Santana got a bases-clearing double, and the Giants, who not only continue to pile up losses but create new ways to lose, fell to the Twins 4-0.

It was the Giants’ homestand opener, and they were coming off an uplifting 10-inning win in Milwaukee, but reality hit early and often on a chilly night in downtown San Francisco as Matt Moore experienced further fourth-inning blues. The left-hander’s ERA in fourth innings is 9.49, and that’s when he delivered his fateful 92-mph fastball in Santana’s wheelhouse — if Santana has a wheelhouse. Moore got in trouble by giving up a single to Robbie Grossman and walking Max Kepler and Jason Castro. Castro scored from first because he ran on contact with two outs, and that pretty much sealed the Giants’ fate. Overcoming four-run deficits isn’t a strength. They’ve lost six of their past eight home games. “You’re going to challenge him. The guy hasn’t gotten a hit in, what, three years,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Santana. “He placed it just right. It’s a good break for them. He’s a great pitcher, but I know he’s not a very good hitter. We got burned by a pitcher in the American League.” Santana is 34 and in his 14th season, with previous stops in Anaheim, Kansas City and Atlanta, but Friday’s assignment was the first in his career against the Giants, the only team he hadn’t faced. In registering his 19th career complete game, the right-hander pitched as if knew every batter’s weaknesses. He has a major-league high three shutouts this season; no other pitcher has more than one. In his 91-pitch gem (fewest in a nine-inning game this season), Santana threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of 31 batters and got to a three-ball count once. He struck out five and yielded four hits. The first was Eduardo Nuñez’s first-inning single, but Brandon Belt grounded into a double play. The second was Aaron Hill’s leadoff triple in the third, but he was stranded as Santana retired Austin Slater, Moore and Span. “He didn’t miss a lot and commanded his slider really well,” Buster Posey said. “He definitely had it going tonight.” Hill’s hit was the 1,500th of his career. He started at second base because Joe Panik has a mild sprain of his left thumb, the result of a dive to his right in Thursday’s game. He had an MRI exam and will need a couple of days off. The Giants aren’t considering the disabled list. “You make the play hundreds of times. All it takes is one,” said Panik, who wore a thumb guard Friday. “The thumb just bent in an awkward way.” The Giants were hoping for a strong outing from Moore, especially because he had been far better at home (2.57 ERA) than on the road (7.94). He fell behind 1-0 when surrendering three singles in the third inning, including Brian Dozier’s that scored Byron Buxton. In the fourth, with two on and two outs, he didn’t need to go after Castro with Santana on deck. Before Friday, Santana’s career RBI total was three, coming in 105 plate appearances.

After Castro walked, Santana was supposed to be an easy out. Moore said he wanted the pitch on the inner half of the plate but missed, and Santana became the first Twins pitcher with three RBIs in a game since the great Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970. San Jose Mercury News Twins’ ace beats Giants with arm and bat Paul Gackle SAN FRANCISCO — Apparently, baseball’s most unhittable pitcher knows how to swing a bat, too. The Giants discovered Ervin Santana’s unsung talent the hard way. Santana, who leads the majors in opponents batting average, hits per nine innings and shutouts, showed off his skills at the plate Friday, providing his own offense by driving in three runs to propel the Minnesota Twins to a 4-0 win at AT&T Park. “The guy hasn’t had a hit in what, three years?” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Good break for them, I guess, because he’s a great pitcher, but I know he’s not a very good hitter. We got burned by a pitcher in the American League.” Starting pitcher Matt Moore (2-7) got the matchup he wanted when Santana stepped up to the plate with two outs in the fourth. The left-hander loaded the bases by pitching around catcher Jason Castro with runners on first and second, moving them into scoring position knowing he would face the Twins ace, who entered the game with a career .118 batting average, along with just two extra-base hits and three RBIs in 105 plate appearances. But Santana (8-3) made sure that Moore will be second guessing his conservative approach to the Castro at bat, clearing the bases by dropping a first-pitch fastball into the gap in right-center field, just beyond the reach of a sliding Denard Span, who got a glove on the ball but couldn’t make the catch. Santana’s three-run double, which came on his first swing of the season, made him the first Twins pitcher to collect three RBIs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970. It also gave the Twins their 4-0 lead. “We obviously didn’t want to throw him much in the middle of the zone, so we were going around and on the edges,” Moore said, referring to Castro’s five-pitch walk prior to Santana’s three-run double. “Not that there’s anybody in particular that we do want to throw meatballs to.” Santana’s game-breaking double continued a troubling trend for Moore, who’s struggled mightily in the fourth inning this year, producing a 9.48 ERA in the inning in 13 starts. “I guess I hate the No. 4,” Moore joked. “For some guys it’s the first inning, some guys it’s when they’re finishing up. But baseball’s the type of game where sometimes you don’t really have answer for why it’s that particular inning.” The Twins opened the scoring in the third when Byron Buxton and Castro led off the inning with singles, and Brian Dozier scored the lead runner by punching a ground ball up the middle into center field.

As clutch as Santana proved to be with the bat, he showed the Giants why he still makes his living on the mound. Santana allowed just five Giants to reach base as he twirled his third complete game shutout of the year, giving up just four hits and a walk. The Giants (25-38) best chance at solving Santana came in the third when Aaron Hill smacked a fastball into triple’s alley to lead off the inning with a three bagger, the team’s only “legit hit,” according to Bochy. But the Twins right-hander pitched his way out of trouble, recording three of his 15 ground ball outs by inducing bouncers out of Austin Slater, Moore and Span. “We saw why this guy is having such a great year,” Bochy said. “He stays on the corners with that slider and fastball, and his slider’s got late depth to it. We just kept beating the ball in the ground. “He made it look easy.” NOTES — Joe Panik missed Friday’s game with a sprained left thumb. The Giants second baseman injured his thumb while diving for a ground ball against the Milwaukee Brewers on Thursday afternoon. Bochy said he expects Panik to rejoin the lineup in time for the Giants series with the Kansas City Royals, which kicks off at AT&T Park Tuesday. “He’s going to need a couple of days. It’s not bad enough to put him on the DL,” the Giants manager said. “After (Monday) he should be 100 percent.” — Eduardo Nunez extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a first inning single against the Twins. With the hit, Nunez has now reached base in 24 consecutive games. — Buster Posey went 0 for 4, snapping a streak in which he reached base in 22 consecutive games. San Jose Mercury News Embattled reliever will be available in Giants Bullpen Friday night Paul Gackle SAN FRANCISCO — Embattled reliever Sam Dyson will be available in the Giants bullpen when they open a three-game set against the Minnesota Twins Friday night. The Giants added Dyson to the 25-man roster Friday, optioning utility man Orlando Calixte to Triple-A Sacramento. Dyson joins the Giants after being acquired in a trade with the Texas Rangers Tuesday night. He threw a bullpen session at AT&T Park Friday afternoon. “To be honest, we would probably try to stay away from him,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But he’s available tonight.” The Giants acquired Dyson less than a week after he was designated for assignment by the Rangers.

After pitching six scoreless innings in five appearances for Team USA at the World Baseball Classic in March, Dyson ran into some adversity when the season kicked up, blowing his first three save opportunities as the Rangers closer. In 17 appearances this season, Dyson is 1-6 with a 10.80 ERA. The 29-year-old right-hander said he was “shocked” when he learned that he was traded to the Giants this week. “I really didn’t have a great inclination of where I might be headed,” Dyson said. “We’re in San Francisco and I’m an East Coast guy. “These guys have obviously been to the edge of the circle and they’ve won it all a few times. The main this is, it’s nice to come to a team where you know a few of the guys.” Among the Giants that Dyson knows personally is catcher Buster Posey, who worked as his battery-mate during the WBC in March. Earlier this week, Posey said Dyson’s sinker is, “one of the best,” he’s ever caught. “That’s reassuring to have someone behind the plate that’s confident in what you can do,” said Dyson, who insists that he’s 100 percent healthy. “I’m not saying that anyone over with Texas wasn’t confident, but I had some poor outings, so it was tough to reassure everybody from day to day.” Bochy is hopeful that Dyson’s struggles this season are merely, “a bump in the road.” “Hopefully, the change of scenery will get him back on track,” the Giants manager said. “He’s young and he’s in great shape. He’s excited to be here. “It’s just getting him back on the mound, getting him back in game situations and we’ll see where we’re at. Sometimes, you get in a rut. You’re seeing it with players here.” How does Dyson turn his season around with the Giants? “It’s just getting back to the basics,” Dyson said. “Using the sinker and stop trying to reinvent stuff to get guys out.” Calixte returns to Triple-A Sacramento after batting .160 in 25 at bats with the Giants over eight games. — Chris Heston’s career came full circle on Friday. In his second full day with the Twins, Heston returned to AT&T Park to face the team with whom he threw an indelible no hitter in just his 14th career start exactly two years ago on June 9, 2015. “For him, at such an early stage in his career to do that, that’s pretty special,” Bochy said. “That game for me was as good as you can be with the breaking ball, the fastball, changeup, everything. He had his high school coach there, so that’s a day I’ll never forget.”

Heston, who was acquired off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers Wednesday, could square off against Matt Cain in the series finale Sunday afternoon as the Twins have yet to announce their starting pitcher for the game. — Conor Gillaspie will resume his rehabilitation from back spasms this weekend. Gillaspie’s program was temporarily halted when his wife gave birth to his son, Nash Davis Gillaspie, on Thursday. “Conor he’s not on the Major League paternity leave, but basically that’s where he is,” Bochy said. “He’s just getting a little break. He’ll start his at bats again here probably tomorrow or the next day.” — Bochy is guessing that outfielder Jarrett Parker (shoulder) will begin his minor league rehabilitation assignment in about 10 days. “We’ve just got to get the upper body a little stronger,” Bochy said. “He’s not quite there yet.” San Jose Mercury News Giants’ Bumgarner takes major step in rehabilitation Paul Gackle SAN FRANCISCO — Madison Bumgarner took a significant step in his rehabilitation from a major shoulder injury Friday. The Giants ace threw off the mound for the first time since he suffered a sprain in his left shoulder during a dirt biking accident in Colorado on April 20. Bumgarner threw 20 pitches, all fastballs, in the bullpen session at AT&T Park. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Bumgarner will throw a couple more bullpens and then participate in a simulated game at some point while the team is in Colorado next weekend (June 15-18). “He’s making progress,” Bochy said. MLB.com Shark brings solid command to clash with Twins Rhett Bollinger Giants right-hander Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29 ERA) has been on a roll over his last seven starts, striking out 59 batters while issuing just one walk, and will look to keep it going in the second game of the three-game series against the Twins on Saturday afternoon. Samardzija has a 2.98 ERA over that span, but also has a losing record at 2-3. Samardzija will start opposite Minnesota right-hander Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA), who has been impressive since getting called up in mid-May. Berrios, who posted an 8.02 ERA as a rookie last year, has improved his command, striking out 31 and walking 10 in 32 2/3 innings. Things to know about this game

• Samardzija was excellent last time out, allowing one earned run over 7 2/3 frames against the Brewers, striking out 10 with no walks. He'll be facing a patient team that has the fifth-most walks in the Majors. Samardzija has made six starts against Minnesota, going 4-1 with a 5.21 ERA, but hasn't faced the Twins since 2015. Second baseman Brian Dozier has faced him more than any other Twins player, going 4-for-20 with two doubles and a walk. • Berrios was also solid last time out, holding the Angels to two runs on six hits and two walks over six innings Sunday. He's never faced the Giants or any of their hitters in his 19 career starts. It'll be his third career Interleague start, as he's also started against the Mets and Rockies. He's 1-for-1 in his career at the plate, singling in his first career at-bat against Bartolo Colon last year. • Twins third baseman Miguel Sano continues to lead the Majors in average exit velocity, per Statcast. Sano has an average exit velocity of 96.8 mph, topping the Yankees' Aaron Judge at 95.5 mph. MLB.com Giants stifled by Twins' Santana Rhett Bollinger and Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Ervin Santana delivered a performance Friday night that was suitable for framing. The Minnesota Twins right-hander tickled the edges of the strike zone with the economy of pitches -- 91 -- that he needed to fashion his Major League-best third shutout of the season as he dominated the San Francisco Giants, 4-0. Though Santana (8-3) supplemented his effort with a bases-loaded double in the fourth inning, he truly demonstrated his mastery by surrendering four hits. Just one of them, Aaron Hill's third-inning triple, cleared the infield. That prompted Giants manager Bruce Bochy to say, "Really, we had one legit hit off him." Oddly, Santana's previous start was his worst of the season, a four-inning, seven-run performance against the Angels last Saturday. This game was decidedly different. "He was locked in and established his fastball," Twins manager Paul Molitor said. "I don't think he hung a slider all night. He either painted it or threw it down and away. His changeup was working. Other than the leadoff triple, there weren't a lot of threats and he dodged that, too. And he got a big hit for us, which is surprising because these guys don't swing the bats very often. So he was dominant." Santana threw first-pitch strikes to 26 of the 31 hitters he faced. "He didn't miss a lot tonight," said Giants catcher Buster Posey, who managed a warning-track fly to left field in the fourth inning before striking out looking to end the game. "He commanded his slider really well and definitely had it going tonight." Santana, who fouled out on a sacrifice-bunt attempt in his initial plate appearance in the third inning, helped himself by clearing the bases one inning later with his two-out fly ball to the right-center-field gap that Denard Span couldn't quite reach. Santana equaled his career RBI total (three) while connecting with the first pitch from Giants starter Matt Moore (2-7), who lasted six innings and allowed all four Twins runs.

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED Two-out trouble: Moore's walk to Jason Castro set up Santana's big hit. Skirting the No. 8 hitter before the pitcher bats is common strategy. However, Castro was batting only .226, though he singled in his previous at-bat. Giants fans will remember Castro as the batter whose groundout to third base ended Matt Cain's perfect game in 2012. Nothing doing: The Giants trailed only 1-0 when Hill lashed his triple, which happened to be his 1,500th career hit. However, manufacturing runs is a task that has challenged the Giants all season. A grounder to the right side probably would have scored Hill, but rookie Austin Slater grounded out directly to first base and Moore tapped the ball immediately in front of home plate. Neither was the kind of productive out the Giants needed. "I was able to throw a lot of strikes and keep the ball down for the most part," Santana said. "I was able to keep the hitters off balance." QUOTABLE "Fastball, swing. I was just trying to make good contact and see what happens. I wasn't trying to do too much." -- Santana, on his three-run double SOUND SMART WITH YOUR FRIENDS Santana became the first Twins pitcher with three RBIs since Luis Tiant in 1970. He was also the fourth American League pitcher with at least three RBIs since the designated hitter was introduced in 1973, joining Mike Mussina, Felix Hernandez and Chris Young, and the first AL pitcher to hit a three-run double since the Washington Senators' Bill Gogolewski in 1971. WHAT'S NEXT Twins: Right-hander Jose Berrios is set to start for the Twins in the second game of the series Saturday at 3:05 p.m. CT. Berrios limited the Angels to two runs over six innings in a win last time out. Giants: San Francisco hopes that Jeff Samardzija will take his remarkable array of stuff to the mound with him in Saturday's rematch against the Twins at AT&T Park beginning at 1:05 p.m. PT. Samardzija issued zero walks in both of his double-digit strikeout performances this season. MLB.com Moore's home magic snuffed by Twins starter Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Moore had every reason to feel confident Friday night as he prepared to confront the Minnesota Twins. Never mind that the Giants owned a 3-9 record in his starts. Moore had thrived this season at AT&T Park, compiling a 2-2 record with a 2.57 ERA in five home starts. But Ervin Santana, who bamboozled the Giants by throwing a complete-game four-hitter, also got the best of Moore by hoisting a bases-loaded double to the right-center-field gap in the fourth inning. That's all it took to cement Minnesota's 4-0 Interleague triumph. Moore (2-7) lasted six innings while allowing seven hits and all of Minnesota's runs. "I thought he got better as the game went along," Giants catcher Buster Posey said.

However, the double by Santana -- who was batting .117 at the time and hadn't recorded a hit since 2014 -- swung the game irrevocably in the Twins' favor and dissolved Moore's optimism. "I feel good taking the ball here -- having the fans on our side, [having] a good park to pitch and we have great defense everywhere we go," Moore said. "Taking those three things into consideration, as a starter, you feel like you have a little bit of an edge heading into it." Moore missed his intended location with his first pitch to Santana, which he wanted to throw over the inner third of home plate. But the left-hander's more telling lapse might have been walking Jason Castro, Minnesota's eighth-place hitter who was batting .226, to load the bases. "You want to stay out of the heart of the plate right there and try to get him to chase," Moore said, describing his approach to Castro. "He did a very good job of holding up." Thus continued a season in which opponents seem to capitalize on every mistake the Giants make. "It's a shame that Matty gave up that three-run double, because his numbers look pretty good if that doesn't happen," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But it happened." MLB.com Panik sitting out to rest sprained left thumb Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Giants second baseman Joe Panik could be sidelined for at least two days with a sprained left thumb. Panik's injury was diagnosed Friday, one day after he hurt himself by diving to his right for Paolo Espino's grounder up the middle at Milwaukee. Panik, who was replaced in the lineup by Aaron Hill, will wear a brace around his thumb until the Giants' medical staff determines that he's fit to resume playing. Giants manager Bruce Bochy said Panik likely will not play Saturday against the Minnesota Twins. If Panik is also sidelined for Sunday's series finale, he'd receive an automatic day of rest Monday, which is a scheduled off-day for the Giants. Panik, the National League's reigning Gold Glove winner at his position, is batting .255 with three home runs and 18 RBIs in 58 games. "In a year, you play 162 games. Bumps and bruises are going to happen," Panik said. "It could have been a lot worse." MLB.com Dyson plans to 'get back to basics' with Giants Chris Haft SAN FRANCISCO -- Sam Dyson, the newest Giant, expressed belief that simplifying his pitching approach will help him regain his effectiveness.

Dyson, the right-hander whom San Francisco acquired Tuesday from the Texas Rangers for a player to be named, officially joined the Giants on Friday and threw off a bullpen mound for manager Bruce Bochy and pitching coach Dave Righetti. Relying on a power sinker, Dyson converted 38 saves in 43 opportunities for the Rangers last year. However, he was 1-6 with a 10.80 ERA and four blown saves in 17 appearances this season when the Rangers designated him for assignment June 2. The Giants obtained him four days later. The difference, Dyson said, is "just getting back to the basics, using the sinker, stop trying to reinvent stuff to get guys out and don't second-guess the reason I'm here." Bochy said Dyson, 29, was available to pitch Friday night, though the Giants would try to avoid using him in the Interleague series opener against the Minnesota Twins due to his bullpen stint. To clear room on the 25-man roster for Dyson, the Giants optioned utility man Orlando Calixte to Triple-A Sacramento. Recalled on May 30 when outfielder Mac Williamson was sent to Sacramento, Calixte batted .160 (4-for-25) in eight games. Calixte started six games in left field and one in right for the Giants, who have used 12 left fielders this season. Calixte, 25, valued his stint with the Giants. "It has been an unforgettable experience," he said. "I learned a lot from the veterans. They gave me a lot of advice." Left-hander Madison Bumgarner tossed 20 fastballs in the Giants' bullpen Friday, his first throwing session off a mound since his April 20 dirt-bike accident. Bochy said Bumgarner will throw twice more in the bullpen before pitching a simulated game during the Giants' June 15-18 visit to Denver. Though the Giants' timetable for Bumgarner's return is not definite, he could return to the starting rotation after the mid-July All-Star break, according to most estimates. NBC Sports Bay Area Return Home Does Giants No Good, Twins Pitch Shutout In Win Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — The Minnesota Twins have come to expect dominant pitching from Ervin Santana. His contributions with the bat on the other hand were a pleasant surprise. Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. "For a guy to come through in that situation, it's a lot of excitement on the bench to say the least," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Santana's hit that broke the game open. "He knows enough to try to put the ball in play and not overswing. If you somehow put it in play, something good might happen."

It was a good night all around for Santana (8-3), who recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes. "I felt comfortable, threw a lot of strikes and kept the ball down for the most part," he said. "Location was good. Just first-pitch strikes the whole game." Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore's 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. "He just didn't pitch to heart of the plate at all," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He made it look easy. We had one legit hit off him. He was good. When a pitcher is that good, he just makes you look flat. We just couldn't get anything going." The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana's bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just out of reach of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0. "He's a great pitcher but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned an AL pitcher," Bochy said. "They don't take BP or anything. I'm sure Matty just went after him. He got the barrel to it." TRAINER'S ROOM Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won't re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. ... 2B Joe Panik missed the game after spraining his left thumb Thursday in Milwaukee and is day to day. ... INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven't gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. CALL UP

The Twins plan to call up LHP Nik Turley to start Sunday in his major league debut. Turley was a 50th round pick by the Yankees in 2008 and spent time in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Minnesota system this season. UP NEXT Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. NBC Sports Bay Area Giants Activate New Reliever, Send Calixte Back To Minors Alex Pavlovic SAN FRANCISCO -- The newest member of the bullpen didn't have to wait long to be activated. Sam Dyson, acquired earlier this week from the Texas Rangers, was activated before Friday's game against the Minnesota Twins. To open a roster spot, the Giants optioned Orlando Calixte back to Triple-A. Dyson, 29, will get a chance to prove that a fresh start was all he needed. The former closer had a 10.80 ERA before being designated by the Rangers, but the Giants believe they can salvage some value. Dyson throws in the upper 90s and is not far removed from being one of the best relief pitchers in the American League. “Here’s a guy who has a lot of experience pitching late in ballgames,” Bruce Bochy said when Dyson was acquired. “It’s a good arm. He’s gotten off to a rough start there in Texas and we’re hoping a change of scenery serves him well.” If he can find his form, Dyson could be a late-innings guy ahead of Mark Melancon. The Giants have had Derek Law in the eighth, but he has struggled to find consistency in his first year as a full-blown setup man. Dyson is a flyer, but a worthwhile one given his past. This move also clears the way for another audition. With Calixte, who struggled at the plate and in left, back in the minors, the left field job is there for the taking for rookie Austin Slater. He hit a 461-foot homer in Milwaukee on Friday. Bochy has said he wants one of the young players to take that job and run with it, and Slater will get a shot in his first homestand. Santa Rosa Press Democrat Minnesota Twins’ Ervin Santana shuts down Giants with arm, bat Josh Dubow SAN FRANCISCO — Ervin Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Minnesota Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. Santana (8-3) recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes.

Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore’s 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana’s bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just in front of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0. TRAINER’S ROOM Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won’t re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. ... INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven’t gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. UP NEXT Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. ESPN Jeff Samardzija has decided to stop walking batters David Schoenfield On April 28, Jeff Samardzija walked San Diego Padres outfielder Jabari Blash on four pitches. The first pitch looked like it caught the outside corner, then the San Francisco Giants right-hander threw two fastballs inside and one outside for ball four.

Samardzija didn't walk another batter until May 25, when Ian Happ of the Chicago Cubs took a 3-2 fastball a little up and out of the strike zone. Between walks, Samardzija struck out 47 batters. In fact, he may even have been pitching around Happ, or at least pitching him very carefully. There were two outs and a runner on second with Jason Heyward on deck; Happ was red hot at the time and Heyward wasn't. Since that walk to Happ, Samardzija has struck out 16 more batters, including 10 in his last start against the Milwaukee Brewers. He has had 59 strikeouts and one walk during his past seven starts, becoming the first pitcher to have 50-plus strikeouts and one or fewer walks in a seven-start span. Samardzija starts Saturday against the Minnesota Twins and Jose Berrios in a fun matchup. I'm fascinated by this new approach. Samardzija has basically decided, "I'm not going to walk anybody. I'm not going to beat myself." This idea isn't new; it's that Samardzija appears to be taking it to the absolute extremes, and it's hard to argue with the results. Through that April 25 start, Samardzija had a 6.32 ERA with a 35-10 strikeout-to-walk ratio. He has a 2.98 ERA in his past seven starts. Greg Maddux, of course, was known for his exquisite control. In 1997, he recorded 177 strikeouts while walking just 20 batters -- and six of those were intentional. His longest stretch without walks that season, however, was just five starts. Curt Schilling also took the Samardzija approach. He always had pretty good control, but at one point, he decided he was going to quit walking batters. During his 2001-02 peak with the Diamondbacks, he walked just 72 batters in 70 starts. Throwing strikes meant he'd give up more home runs -- he led the National League with 37 home runs allowed in 2001 -- but you weren't going to beat him with two- or three-run homers, and throwing more strikes meant he could go deeper into games. In his first season as a starter in 2004, Cliff Lee walked 81 batters. By 2010, he walked just 18 in 212 1/3 innings. Maybe he gave up a few more hits and home runs with this approach, but the mindset was to pound the zone and trust your stuff. What's interesting about Samardzija is that while he's throwing more pitches in the strike zone, he's not doing it by throwing more fastballs as you might expect: Through April 25: 47.3 percent in the zone, 55.2 percent fastballs and sinkers Since April 25: 51.4 percent in the zone, 45.2 percent fastballs and sinkers Instead, he's throwing more sliders and curveballs. What he is doing, however, is pounding the strike zone with the first pitch. In April, 55 percent of his first pitches were strikes, including a called strike rate of 35.1 percent. In May and June, those rates have gone up to 68.5 percent and 57.3 percent, respectively. The Brewers noticed this and started swinging a lot more at the first pitch (although without success). Let's see how the Twins attack him. For the season, Samardzija leads the NL with 8.85 K's for every walk. That ratio, however, doesn't even lead the majors: The Cleveland Indians' Josh Tomlin isn't the same type of strikeout pitcher, but he had 44 K's and just four walks. Then there's Los Angeles Dodgers reliever Kenley Jansen, an entirely different kind of beast: He has 41 strikeouts and ZERO walks. The modern record for strikeouts without a walk is Schilling's 56 in 2002, so Jansen has a chance to break that record -- if Samardzija doesn't get there first. If you're familiar with baseball history, you know that these insane strikeout-to-walk ratios are a byproduct of modern baseball: Better pitchers who throw harder combined with hitters willing to trade

strikeouts for home runs. For those of you who have played in any kind of Strat-O-Matic or other simulation league, you'll know that for decades a 2-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio was considered pretty good. I recently played in a 1976 league and of the 88 qualified starting pitchers that season, only 26 had a 2-1 or better ratio and only six were 3-1 or better (and many of the nonqualifiers had more walks than strikeouts). Here's a chart of the evolving nature of the game, focusing just on pitchers who qualified for the ERA title: YEAR PITCHERS 2-1 3-1 4-1 1.5-1 OR WORSE BEST 1976 88 26 6 1 36 Gary Nolan, 4.14 1986 82 39 10 1 15 Mike Scott, 4.25 1996 82 44 13 5 10 Greg Maddux, 6.14 2006 84 54 19 7 7 Curt Schilling, 6.54 2016 74 64 40 16 1 Rick Porcello, 5.91 2017 86 68 33 14 3 Josh Tomlin, 11.00 Porcello's league-leading figure last year was actually pretty low for recent seasons, the lowest since Roy Halladay in 2008. Clayton Kershaw would have shattered the record with 15.64 strikeouts for each walk (172-to-11), but he only threw 149 innings. Here's another way of looking at the dominant ratio of today's pitchers, the top 15 single-season leaders in strikeout percentage minus walk percentage: RANK PITCHER YEAR PERCENT 1 Pedro Martinez 1999 33.1 2 Chris Sale 2017 31.1 3 Pedro Martinez 2000 30.8 4 Randy Johnson 2001 30.3 5 Clayton Kershaw 2016 29.6 6 Clayton Kershaw 2015 29.6 7 Max Scherzer 2017 28.8 8 Curt Schilling 2002 27.8 9 Clayton Kershaw 2014 27.8 10 Randy Johnson 1999 27.3 11 Chris Sale 2015 27.2 12 Randy Johnson 2000 27.1 13 Max Scherzer 2015 26.9 14 Jose Fernandez 2016 26.9 15 Randy Johnson 1995 26.4 OK, I cheated and included Kershaw's 2016 season even though he didn't pitch enough innings. Anyway, Samardzija is third this season behind Sale and Scherzer at 25.5 percent, which could crack the top 20 of all time. Only three pre-1995 seasons crack the top 50: 1965 Sandy Koufax, 1984 Dwight Gooden, 1986 Mike Scott. Of course, despite all those strikeouts and not issuing many walks, Samardzija's season ERA is just 4.29. His strand rate of 66.7 percent is 10th-worst among starters, and he has allowed fewer than three runs

just three times in 12 starts. This seems to prove there's more to pitching in 2017 than simply striking out a lot of hitters. ESPN Santana dominates Giants with bat, arm in 4-0 Twins win Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO -- The Minnesota Twins have come to expect dominant pitching from Ervin Santana. His contributions with the bat on the other hand were a pleasant surprise. Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. "For a guy to come through in that situation, it's a lot of excitement on the bench to say the least," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Santana's hit that broke the game open. "He knows enough to try to put the ball in play and not overswing. If you somehow put it in play, something good might happen." It was a good night all around for Santana (8-3), who recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes. "I felt comfortable, threw a lot of strikes and kept the ball down for the most part," he said. "Location was good. Just first-pitch strikes the whole game." Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore's 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. "He just didn't pitch to heart of the plate at all," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He made it look easy. We had one legit hit off him. He was good. When a pitcher is that good, he just makes you look flat. We just couldn't get anything going." The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana's bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just out of reach of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0. "He's a great pitcher but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned an AL pitcher," Bochy said. "They don't take BP or anything. I'm sure Matty just went after him. He got the barrel to it." TRAINER'S ROOM

Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won't re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. ... 2B Joe Panik missed the game after spraining his left thumb Thursday in Milwaukee and is day to day. ... INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven't gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. CALL UP The Twins plan to call up LHP Nik Turley to start Sunday in his major league debut. Turley was a 50th round pick by the Yankees in 2008 and spent time in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Minnesota system this season. UP NEXT Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. Fox Sports Twins’ Santana pitches third complete-game shutout of season Associated Press SAN FRANCISCO — The Minnesota Twins have come to expect dominant pitching from Ervin Santana. His contributions with the bat on the other hand were a pleasant surprise. Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. “For a guy to come through in that situation, it’s a lot of excitement on the bench to say the least,” Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Santana’s hit that broke the game open. “He knows enough to try to put the ball in play and not overswing. If you somehow put it in play, something good might happen.” It was a good night all around for Santana (8-3), who recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes. “I felt comfortable, threw a lot of strikes and kept the ball down for the most part,” he said. “Location was good. Just first-pitch strikes the whole game.”

Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore’s 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. “He just didn’t pitch to heart of the plate at all,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “He made it look easy. We had one legit hit off him. He was good. When a pitcher is that good, he just makes you look flat. We just couldn’t get anything going.” The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana’s bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just out of reach of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0. “He’s a great pitcher but I know he’s not a very good hitter and we got burned an AL pitcher,” Bochy said. “They don’t take BP or anything. I’m sure Matty just went after him. He got the barrel to it.” TRAINER’S ROOM Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won’t re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. . . . 2B Joe Panik missed the game after spraining his left thumb Thursday in Milwaukee and is day to day. . . . INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven’t gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. CALL UP The Twins plan to call up LHP Nik Turley to start Sunday in his major league debut. Turley was a 50th round pick by the Yankees in 2008 and spent time in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Minnesota system this season. UP NEXT

Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. Yahoo Sports High-strikeout pitchers featured in Twins-Giants game Stats SAN FRANCISCO -- Two high-strikeout pitchers are set to duel Saturday afternoon when the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants continue their three-game interleague series. The Twins got the jump on the Giants in the series opener Friday night, riding Ervin Santana's four-hit pitching and three-run double to a 4-0 victory. The Giants had won five straight in the interleague series dating to 2011. Remarkably, the Giants had never faced Santana, a veteran of 356 starts, before Friday. And the same holds true for the Twins' starter Saturday. Jose Berrios will be making just his third career interleague start, having lost to the New York Mets last season and beaten the Colorado Rockies earlier this year. Berrios has been very impressive against mostly American League competition this season, going 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA in five starts. The right-hander has been at his best on the road, where's he's gone 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA. Only five starters in all of baseball have a better road record this season, and only Houston Astros ace Dallas Keuchel (2.20) has a better ERA among those with a 3-0 or better road mark. Berrios has struck out 31 in 32 2/3 innings, highlighted by an 11-strikeout performance in 7 2/3 innings in a 2-0 win over the Rockies in May. The 23-year-old will be supported by a team that's gone 19-8 on the road this season. They've won five of eight on a 10-game Western swing that ends Sunday. "The kind of game the manager likes," Twins skipper Paul Molitor gushed Friday night after making just one move -- inserting a defensive replacement in left field late in the game -- in the error-free, 2-hour, 27-minute affair. "Not a lot of decisions to make." The Giants will counter with Jeff Samardzija, who enters the game on a remarkable strikeout run. The veteran right-hander is coming off a 10-strikeout effort in a 7-2 win at Milwaukee. He didn't walk anybody in his 7 2/3 innings, giving him 59 strikeouts and just one walk since May 1. The win was just Samardzija's second in 12 starts this season. But he will take the mound Saturday having gone 4-0 with a 3.67 ERA in his last five starts against the Twins. He's 4-1 with a 5.21 ERA in six career starts against Minnesota. The Giants have lost six of their last eight home games to fall to 13-15 at AT&T Park. They've lost 11 of their last 15 games against American League competition as well.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was left shaking his head with the way his club lost Friday's series opener. He had far less trouble accepting the team's seventh shutout of the season than he did Santana's bases-clearing double, which turned a one-run game into a 4-0 deficit in the fourth inning. "The guy hasn't had a hit in, what, three years? He placed it just right. It was good break for them," Bochy lamented. "He's a great pitcher, but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned by an AL pitcher. They don't take BP (batting practice) or anything." CBS Sports Giants' Matt Moore: Struggles in Friday's loss RotoWire Staff Moore gave up four runs on seven hits and three walks over six innings to fall to 2-7 with a 5.28 ERA in Friday's loss to Minnesota. Moore was lucky not to give up more runs as he allowed ten base runners, but he was unlucky to give up a fluky three-run double to Twins pitcher Ervin Santana. Despite Moore's ugly overall numbers, he had been pitching well at home with a 2.57 ERA before Friday. He also had regrouped after a terrible April with a 3.13 ERA and 7.4 K/9 in his previous five starts, so there's hope he can get back on track. CBS Sports Giants' Joe Panik: To require multiple off days with thumb injury RotoWire Staff Panik will miss multiple games due to a mild thumb sprain that also kept him out of Friday's game against Minnesota, John Shea of the San Francisco Chronicle reports. The injury is to Panik's left (glove) hand. An MRI didn't reveal anything more serious than a mild strain. The Giants have an off day Monday before beginning a series Tuesday against the Royals; expect him back by then at the latest. CBS Sports Giants' Joe Panik: Heads to bench Friday RotoWire Staff Panik is not in the lineup Friday against the Twins, Alex Pavlovic of NBC Sports Bay Area reports. Panik has a 1.031 OPS over his past eight games, but he'll head to the bench for his first night off in the month of June. Aaron Hill will man the keystone in his place. CBS Sports Giants' Madison Bumgarner: Back on mound Friday RotoWire Staff Bumgarner (shoulder) threw off a mound Friday, Amy Gutierrez of NBC Sports Bay Area reports.

This is a big step in MadBum's recovery process, as he had been limited to throwing on flat ground prior to this point. He's expected to continue ramping up his throwing over the next week or two prior to going on a five-start rehab assignment, so a return in early July seems like the best-case scenario at this time. CBS Sports Giants' Orlando Calixte: Sent to minors RotoWire Staff Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento on Friday. Calixte had been splitting left field duties with Austin Slater for the past week, but after collecting just four hits during his time in the big leagues, he'll head back to the minors for more work. He could be on the taxi squad if more injuries strike the Giants' outfield, but in the meantime, Sam Dyson will take his spot on the active roster. CBS Sports Opting out of big contracts in near future is no guarantee for these eight players Matt Synder Opt-out clauses in contracts have been around for a bit, but they kind of exploded in the past few years, notably in the offseason between 2015 and 2016. At the time, many were assuming that the players would all be worth as much or more money in the next few years, meaning they were almost certain to opt out of the deals when they could. Sometimes it's still a no-brainer for the player. Look at Clayton Kershaw. He can opt out after 2018 or stick with the Dodgers for two years and just a touch over $70 million. He'd blow by that with ease on the open market. Not everyone is such an easy call, though. Things can always change, but as things stand right now, there are some serious question marks when it comes to some opt-out clauses here in the next few years. Let's take a quick look. Post-2017 Justin Upton: This one will be very interesting. Upton was awful for much of 2016, but he closed by hitting .309/.397/.765 with 18 homers in his last 38 games. This year, he's slashing .261/.352/.503, which is good for a 130 OPS+. He can clearly still rake, even if the average will likely never be very good again. But at age 30, will a corner outfielder with power really grab four years and $88.5 million on the open market? That's what is left on his Tigers deal if he doesn't opt out. Johnny Cueto: His case is mostly fun through the lens of whether or not the Giants are major sellers in front of the trade deadline this season. Cueto has four years and $84 million left on his deal if he doesn't opt out after this year, and it seems pretty certain he'd get that in free agency. Would a team take the chance on trading what they believe to be a rental package for him with the risk that he'd not opt out? Or, the opposite, would a team trading a big prospect package be hoping to convince Cueto to not opt

out and stick with what's left on the deal? Of course, we should also consider that Cueto hasn't been very good this season (4.33 ERA, 95 ERA+) and he'll be 32 next year. Masahiro Tanaka: Before this season started, it seemed obvious Tanaka would be hitting free agency after 2017, but right now he leads the AL in earned runs allowed and sports a woeful 6.55 ERA. He's mixed in some good performances, but has a 10.72 ERA in his last five starts (all Yankees losses). There are three years and $67 million left on his deal if he doesn't opt out and we have to consider that he has a partially torn ligament in his elbow. Remember, teams require players to pass physicals upon signing a contract in free agency. Ian Kennedy: He's 32 years old and is 0-6 with a 5.33 ERA through 10 starts. From 2013 until this point, Kennedy has gone 40-55 with a 4.18 ERA (92 ERA+) and 1.30 WHIP. There are three years and $49 million left on his deal with the Royals. I know there's always a premium on able-bodied starting pitching, but I just can't see Kennedy coming close to getting three years and $49M on the open market at this point in his career. Wei-Yin Chen: In 27 starts with the Marlins, he has a 4.85 ERA and is currently out indefinitely with an elbow injury. There are three years and $52 million left on his deal if he doesn't opt out. Do the math. Post-2018 Jason Heyward: He is leaps and bounds better at the plate this season than he was last year, but he's still a below-average hitter (.256/.311/.399 entering Friday, good for an 88 OPS+). He's probably the best defensive right fielder in baseball and is a great baserunner. His baseball IQ is off the charts and he's an exceptional teammate. He's also due five years and $106 million after 2018 if he doesn't opt out. I just can't see anyone giving him that at this point. There's just too much offensive shortfall at a corner outfield position. There's plenty of time for a turnaround, though. David Price: He led the majors in innings pitched last season and he's often toward the top of that leaderboard. That's a feature worth paying a premium. Of course, Price also led the majors in hits allowed and was bad again in the postseason. He's posted a 5.29 ERA in three starts since returning from a lengthy DL stint this year. His velocity is down nearly 2 miles per hour from where it was in 2014-15. After 2018, Price could opt out or he could decide to stay put for four years and $127 million. If he pitches back to form, he could easily get that. If he doesn't, that's a tough call. He'll be 33 years old in 2019 with a ton of wear on that left arm. Later Heyward: If he doesn't opt out after 2018 and then gets 550 plate appearances in 2019, Heyward could then opt out. There are four years and $86 million left on the deal after 2019. It feels like the only way this is exercised if is he doesn't play overly well through 2018 but then explodes in 2019. Still, would a team give a guy coming off a possible fluke season that kind of money? Again, things change ... but it's hard to see Heyward not keeping his current deal intact. Giancarlo Stanton: This is more a speculative exercise, because there's no way of knowing how Stanton fares or how the market alters in the years leading up to his opt-out clause after the 2020 season. Further, we don't know what the Marlins' new ownership group will be like or if Stanton might even be traded before then. But he'll be heading into his age-31 season with seven years and $208 million left on the deal. It's actually a guaranteed $218M, because there's a $25 million team option for 2028 that has a

$10 million buyout, should the team decline the option. If I had to bet right now, I'd go with Stanton not opting out. CBS Sports High-strikeout pitchers featured in Twins-Giants game Stats SAN FRANCISCO -- Two high-strikeout pitchers are set to duel Saturday afternoon when the Minnesota Twins and San Francisco Giants continue their three-game interleague series. The Twins got the jump on the Giants in the series opener Friday night, riding Ervin Santana's four-hit pitching and three-run double to a 4-0 victory. The Giants had won five straight in the interleague series dating to 2011. Remarkably, the Giants had never faced Santana, a veteran of 356 starts, before Friday. And the same holds true for the Twins' starter Saturday. Jose Berrios will be making just his third career interleague start, having lost to the New York Mets last season and beaten the Colorado Rockies earlier this year. Berrios has been very impressive against mostly American League competition this season, going 4-1 with a 2.76 ERA in five starts. The right-hander has been at his best on the road, where's he's gone 3-0 with a 2.70 ERA. Only five starters in all of baseball have a better road record this season, and only Houston Astros ace Dallas Keuchel (2.20) has a better ERA among those with a 3-0 or better road mark. Berrios has struck out 31 in 32 2/3 innings, highlighted by an 11-strikeout performance in 7 2/3 innings in a 2-0 win over the Rockies in May. The 23-year-old will be supported by a team that's gone 19-8 on the road this season. They've won five of eight on a 10-game Western swing that ends Sunday. "The kind of game the manager likes," Twins skipper Paul Molitor gushed Friday night after making just one move -- inserting a defensive replacement in left field late in the game -- in the error-free, 2-hour, 27-minute affair. "Not a lot of decisions to make." The Giants will counter with Jeff Samardzija, who enters the game on a remarkable strikeout run. The veteran right-hander is coming off a 10-strikeout effort in a 7-2 win at Milwaukee. He didn't walk anybody in his 7 2/3 innings, giving him 59 strikeouts and just one walk since May 1. The win was just Samardzija's second in 12 starts this season. But he will take the mound Saturday having gone 4-0 with a 3.67 ERA in his last five starts against the Twins. He's 4-1 with a 5.21 ERA in six career starts against Minnesota. The Giants have lost six of their last eight home games to fall to 13-15 at AT&T Park. They've lost 11 of their last 15 games against American League competition as well.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was left shaking his head with the way his club lost Friday's series opener. He had far less trouble accepting the team's seventh shutout of the season than he did Santana's bases-clearing double, which turned a one-run game into a 4-0 deficit in the fourth inning. "The guy hasn't had a hit in, what, three years? He placed it just right. It was good break for them," Bochy lamented. "He's a great pitcher, but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned by an AL pitcher. They don't take BP (batting practice) or anything." CBS Sports Santana dominates Giants with bat, arm in 4-0 Twins win Stats SAN FRANCISCO (AP) The Minnesota Twins have come to expect dominant pitching from Ervin Santana. His contributions with the bat on the other hand were a pleasant surprise. Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. ''For a guy to come through in that situation, it's a lot of excitement on the bench to say the least,'' Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Santana's hit that broke the game open. ''He knows enough to try to put the ball in play and not overswing. If you somehow put it in play, something good might happen.'' It was a good night all around for Santana (8-3), who recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes. ''I felt comfortable, threw a lot of strikes and kept the ball down for the most part,'' he said. ''Location was good. Just first-pitch strikes the whole game.'' Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore's 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. ''He just didn't pitch to heart of the plate at all,'' manager Bruce Bochy said. ''He made it look easy. We had one legit hit off him. He was good. When a pitcher is that good, he just makes you look flat. We just couldn't get anything going.'' The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana's bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just out of reach of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0.

''He's a great pitcher but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned an AL pitcher,'' Bochy said. ''They don't take BP or anything. I'm sure Matty just went after him. He got the barrel to it.'' TRAINER'S ROOM Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won't re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. ... 2B Joe Panik missed the game after spraining his left thumb Thursday in Milwaukee and is day to day. ... INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven't gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. CALL UP The Twins plan to call up LHP Nik Turley to start Sunday in his major league debut. Turley was a 50th round pick by the Yankees in 2008 and spent time in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Minnesota system this season. UP NEXT Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. USA Today Ervin Santana dominates Giants with bat, arm in Twins win AP SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — The Minnesota Twins have come to expect dominant pitching from Ervin Santana. His contributions with the bat on the other hand were a pleasant surprise. Santana pitched a four-hitter for his third shutout of the season and hit a three-run double in another stellar bounce-back start, leading the Twins to a 4-0 victory over the San Francisco Giants on Friday night. "For a guy to come through in that situation, it's a lot of excitement on the bench to say the least," Twins manager Paul Molitor said of Santana's hit that broke the game open. "He knows enough to try to put the ball in play and not overswing. If you somehow put it in play, something good might happen." It was a good night all around for Santana (8-3), who recovered from a seven-run shelling last Saturday against the Angels to shut down the Giants in an efficient 91-pitch outing. He struck out five, walked one and started 26 of the 31 batters he faced with first-pitch strikes.

"I felt comfortable, threw a lot of strikes and kept the ball down for the most part," he said. "Location was good. Just first-pitch strikes the whole game." Santana has allowed at least five runs in three starts this season and followed all of them with scoreless outings, including two game shutouts. Matt Moore (2-7) allowed four runs in six innings to extend his winless streak to five starts. The Giants have lost eight of 11 overall and have just three wins in Moore's 13 starts this season. San Francisco barely even threatened against Santana other than getting a leadoff triple from Aaron Hill in the third. But Santana recovered to get Austin Slater on a groundout to first, Moore on a tapper in front of the plate and Denard Span on a groundout to end the inning. "He just didn't pitch to heart of the plate at all," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He made it look easy. We had one legit hit off him. He was good. When a pitcher is that good, he just makes you look flat. We just couldn't get anything going." The Twins then broke it open in the fourth thanks to Santana's bat. With runners on first and second and two outs, Moore walked No. 8 hitter Jason Castro to load the bases. Santana followed with a fly ball to right center that fell just out of reach of a diving Span to clear the bases and put Minnesota up 4-0. "He's a great pitcher but I know he's not a very good hitter and we got burned an AL pitcher," Bochy said. "They don't take BP or anything. I'm sure Matty just went after him. He got the barrel to it." TRAINER'S ROOM Twins: INF Jorge Polanco won't re-join the team until the Twins return home Monday. Polanco left the team earlier this week following the death of his grandfather and is on the bereavement list. Giants: Ace Madison Bumgarner threw off the mound in the bullpen for the first time since being sidelined with shoulder and rib injuries following a dirt bike accident April 20 in Colorado. He threw 20 pitches. ... 2B Joe Panik missed the game after spraining his left thumb Thursday in Milwaukee and is day to day. ... INF Orlando Calixte was optioned to Triple-A Sacramento to make room for RHP Sam Dyson, who was acquired from Texas earlier this week. HITTING PITCHER The Twins are one of three teams (Oakland, Angels) who haven't gotten a homer from a pitcher since the start of the DH era in 1973. But Santana still delivered a big hit, doubling his career RBI total in one swing. It marked the first time a Minnesota pitcher drove in three runs in a game since Luis Tiant on May 28, 1970, against Milwaukee. CALL UP The Twins plan to call up LHP Nik Turley to start Sunday in his major league debut. Turley was a 50th round pick by the Yankees in 2008 and spent time in the independent Atlantic League before joining the Minnesota system this season. UP NEXT

Jose Berrios (4-1, 2.76 ERA) looks to earn his second win on this trip when the Twins take on Jeff Samardzija (2-7, 4.29) and the Giants in the middle game of the series. Around the Foghorn San Francisco Giants: Ervin Santana Defeats the Giants by Himself Michael Saltzman The San Francisco Giants have been struggling to find wins and coming home didn’t help. The Minnesota Twins defeated the Giants 4-0 behind great pitching and hitting by Ervin Santana. Matt Moore struggled, allowing four runs over six innings as the Giants continue to search for answers in what is increasingly feeling like a lost season. Moore’s ERA is now 5.28. If the Giants are going to turn it around, they are going to need more from Moore, who has been solid at home and miserable on the road so far this year. However, he was unable to pitch well enough tonight to battle for the win. The main reason was the sensational performance from Santana, who pitched a complete game shutout and continued his excellent 2017 season. He also had the biggest hit of the night with a bases clearing double in the fourth inning. Santana is first in all of baseball in batting average against, hits allowed per nine innings, and shutouts. Tonight was the first time he had faced the Giants in his career and he certainly made it a memorable one. Brandon Belt went 0-4 to drop his average to .231. Hunter Pence went 0-3 to drop his average to .234. Brandon Crawford went 1-3 to raise his average to .253. If the Giants are going to ever turn this season around, they need more from three of their best hitters. The Giants now falls to 25-38 and remain in fourth place in the National League West. They will hope for a turnaround tomorrow as one of their hottest pitchers, Jeff Samardzija toes the rubber. In his last seven starts, the “Shark” has 59 strikeouts and only one walk. According to Elias Sports Bureau, it is the first time a pitcher has struck out 50 or more with 1 walk or less over a seven start period. The Giants will certainly need his pitching if they are going to even the series against the Minnesota Twins. Around the Foghorn San Francisco Giants: Five Best Potential Trade Partners Daniel Sperry The San Francisco Giants have a little less than a month to push themselves back into postseason contention. With such a bad start, there is a very likely scenario in which they become sellers. Who are their best trade partners?

The San Francisco Giants are likely going to be sellers. They have needs. They need to get younger. That pretty much has to start this season or at the end. There are plenty of ways to do it. Some take longer than others. You can take the Giants 2005-2008 approach if you like. They never went better than 76-85 (2006) and built primarily through the draft. In 2006 they landed Tim Lincecum, 2007 they landed Madison Bumgarner, in 2008 they landed Buster Posey and Brandon Crawford, and in 2009 they landed Brandon Belt. There is your championship core! You can also do what the Astros did, and suck for a very long time until you finally get good prospects through years of bad drafting. The long way usually is more frustrating, and takes a long time. The short way is trading away pieces of your roster that are no longer needed or ineffective, for young, close to big league ready prospects that will help you in two years time. That model is something that the Cubs, Red-Sox, and Yankees have done in recent years to re-tool, and it has worked so far. The Giants have the option and ability to do that, now. There are some aging pieces that would be worth a hefty amount of prospects, especially to a team that could be in “win-now” mode come July. We’re going to look at five teams that would be perfect trade partners for the Giants based on three things: Looking for something the Giants can offer Have good prospects worth trading for Have contender/buyer status. Before you take a look at these, understand where we’re coming from in analyzing what the Giants trade block probably looks like currently with this article from earlier in the week. With out much more to say, let’s get started! The Chicago Cubs Current Record: 30-29, 2nd in NL Central, five games back of Wild Card. Playoff odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 69% The Chicago Cubs are nowhere near as good as their record setting pace of 2016. There has been a whole lot of inconsistency in both the pitching, and their offense. So what could they be looking for? Potentially another ace to get them over the hump. The pitching staff just has not been good this year, as only one starter has an ERA under four. Johnny Cueto or Matt Moore might be intriguing options for them. While they’re having bad seasons, they are still quite valuable. The Cubs may be willing to part with a couple prospects for someone like those two. In terms of position players, we’ll have to wait and see what happens with the current Addison Russell situation. If a suspension is in the woodworks, or this whole thing turns out to be something big, someone like Eduardo Nunez might be enticing to them as well.

It’s pretty clear the Cubs might need another piece this year to push them over the edge as the Brewers and Reds have helped keep the division competitive this season. And with the strength of teams like the Rockies, Nationals, Dodgers, and Diamond-Backs, the Cubs may want to stock up. The question is what all are they willing to give up. Last year they gave up Gleyber Torres for Aroldis Chapman, and might just be regretting it at the moment, especially when the Yankees signed Aroldis back and made off with the best selling period I think anyone has ever pulled. They do have a few intriguing outfield prospects, a huge area of need for the Giants. The Giants currently have four outfield prospects in their top ten, but none are graded higher than a 50. Jeimer Candelario and Mark Zagunis look to be some of the best prospect fits. If the Giants could get a really good haul from somewhere else on Joe Panik, it might make sense to move Christian Arroyo to second, and someone like Candelario could be groomed as the future third-baseman. He’s a more traditional power hitting corner infielder, maybe not a home-run power, but gap-to-gap power (27 XBH in 48 games in 2017, seven are homers). Both are in AAA and performing at a high level, and could be considered MLB ready by July. I think the Cubs could be an intriguing match for a blockbuster trade, but that would be contingent on them willing to surrender prospects. If they are, they’re a great match for the Giants. The New York Yankees Current Record: 34-23 1st in AL East Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 74% The Yankees were anticipating a two year rebuild and re-tool, much like what the Cubs went through when they were big time sellers in 2014. Well, that window has opened quickly big time, much like the Cubs in their own rebound from 2014-2015. Young stars are leading the charge and the Yankees looked primed for a postseason appearance. The big question mark for them is always the pitching staff. They score a ton of runs, but can their staff keep them off the board? They don’t need to worry about that with the bullpen, so starter arms are likely the focus of their “trade energy.” That means Cueto and Moore. The big question surrounding the Yankees is the same as the Cubs, “Are they willing to give up prospects?”. They are not going to give up Gleyber Torres, but the Giants should be asking in earnest about Clint Frazier. A top ten outfield prospect, and top twenty MLB prospect overall, he’s a right handed power bat that would slot perfectly into left field. Another player the Giants could ask on is Chance Adams, a stud right handed starter in their farm system. Dustin Fowler, also a five tool outfielder in their farm system, might be the best outfield prospect they could get from them if Clint Frazier is off the table. I’m sure the Yankees would love someone like Joe Panik, as they asked for him in the apparent Andrew Miller talks between the two clubs last offseason. But Eduardo Nunez may be the perfect super-utility position player they’re looking for.

If they happen to throw one of those position players into a trade, you can expect one or more of the prospects I mentioned above. Two contributing big-leaguers is worth a lot, and the Yankees set that bar. We’ll just have to see who is on their “do not touch” list. The Houston Astros Current Record: 43-18, best in baseball Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: >99% The Astros are absolutely destroying people this year, and their record is indicative. The big thing for them is another starter. Johnny Cueto will want to be traded to a contender, and the Astros may just be looking to “aim big” in their trade market approach this year. Their biggest need at the moment is someone like Johnny Cueto. So hello, Astros! What do we want from you? Taking at look at their top 10 prospects, there are a few pieces that stand-out. You might be able to convince the Astros to give up one of their stud outfield prospects, Kyle Tucker or Derek Fisher. Both are quite good, and both are highly rated (on Top 100 list). One of the two would be fantastic, but Fisher is my personal favorite due to MLB-readiness. He’s hitting .338/.403/.619/1.022 with 17 homers and 17 doubles in 57 games for the Fresno Grizzlies this season. That would probably be the likely key prospect for the Giants, but Cionel Perez could be another Giants intrigue, as they need to re-stock the pitching aspect of their organization as well. The big thing here is whether or not the Astros think they have enough to get it done this year, or if they might need someone to push them over the edge. Our sibling site, Climbing Tal’s Hill, wrote an article recently basically building up the notion that the Astros will aim high in the trade market. If the Giants could snag one of Fisher or Tucker, that would be great for their future. The Washington Nationals Current Record: 38-21, 1st in NL East Playoff Odds according to FiveThirtyEight: 97% The Nationals might be in the biggest “WIN-NOW” Mode of everyone, which makes them good targets for going after their farm system. Frankly, most experts think their farm system is terrible. But they have a few gems that might be worth grabbing. First off, we have to understand what they might want. Of course they’re going to want Mark Melancon, but coupled with a super utility player like Nunez, the Nationals would be salivating. The Giants would then have to convince them that the combo would be worth one of Victor Robles, or Juan Soto. If they can, I make that trade in a heartbeat for the Giants. The big issue is I don’t see the Giants wanting to split with Melancon just yet, unless they believe top starting prospect turned closer, Kyle Crick could take over the reigns as effectively, or even better. Melancon has had his struggles this year though, and it seems the yips are as contagious all throughout the Giants pen. But, the closer spot seems to be the biggest area that the Nationals could use a significant upgrade. Melancon would be that, and the Giants, outside of the Rays, are likely the only “seller” with an elite closer.

If the Nationals want Melancon back, it would likely take Robles, and for them to take on all of Melancon’s contract beyond this season. If they pony up and do it, Bobby Evans better say yes and file it before the Nationals realize how bad of a trade that might be. But, sometimes teams see red when it’s “win-now” mode. The Nationals are a great candidate to be that team. The Milwaukee Brewers Current Record: 32-29 1st in NL Central Playoff Odds According to FiveThirtyEight: 28% Ahh yes, the Brewers. The current leader of the NL Central, one of the biggest shocks in baseball. They already have a lot of young guys up and contributing. They are contending, so they likely won’t want to trade away Ryan Braun. If it comes to a “win-now” upgrade addition for them, great candidates are Johnny Cueto and Eduardo Nunez. The Giants and Brewers already have a trade history from last season. But now the roles could be reversed. Johnny Cueto could likely be the main piece they attempt to trade for. It will likely come down to who offers the best prospect package for Cueto. If you’ve seen some of the prospects mentioned throughout this article, the Brewers would likely have to offer one of Lewis Brinson, Corey Ray, and Josh Hader to land Cueto. If they go with one of them, as Giants, I beg for Corbin Burnes as well. Burnes was a 4th round draft pick, but a top 50 prospect according to most last season. He’s already made his way up to AA. A very nice 3.5/1 strikout-walk ratio on top of a .86 WHIP across all levels screams “Get this guy.” The Brewers may be smarter in the way they go about adding. I don’t think the pieces they have are enough right now, but they may not want to dump the farm system to compete with the Cubs just yet. Golden Gate Sports Aaron Hill Records 1500th Career Hit on Friday for Giants Sean Bialaszek Aaron Hill reached a career milestone on Friday night, recording his 1500th career big league hit for the San Francisco Giants. Aaron Hill, the San Francisco Giants’ 35-year-old utility infielder in his 13th major league season, collected his 1,500th career hit as a big leaguer on Friday. Hill, getting a rare start in place of a banged-up Joe Panik, scorched a leadoff triple in his first at-bat during the third inning against the Minnesota Twins. The Giants are Hill’s fifth big league club in his career. He made his major league debut on May 20th, 2005 with the Toronto Blue Jays against the Washington Nationals, serving as the designated hitter and batting eighth. In his debut, Hill collected his first career hit, a triple that drove in two runs, in his second at-bat of the game. In seven seasons as a Blue Jay, Hill picked up the first 881 hits of his career. During the 2011 season, Hill was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks, along with John McDonald, in exchange for Kelly Johnson. Even with his contract expiring following the season, he re-signed with the team and went on to spend five seasons in the desert. While there, he collected 512 more hits to bring

his career total up to 1,393. His 1,000th hit came on June 29th, 2012 as part of a four-hit game in which he hit for the cycle. In his first at-bat of the day, he hit a ground-rule double off Randy Wolf to reach the century mark. Prior to the 2016 season, Hill was traded again, this time to the Milwaukee Brewers with Chase Anderson and Isan Diaz for shortstop Jean Segura and pitcher Tyler Wagner. He spent half a season with the Brewers, and picked up 72 more hits for 1,465 total. He was traded once more during the 2016 season, going to the Boston Red Sox while Wendell Rijo and Aaron Wilkerson went the other way. 27 more hits came in a Red Sox uniform, leaving him eight shy of the 1,500 milestone. That brought him to San Francisco, where he signed at the beginning of 2017’s Spring Training. He made the opening day roster, helping his case by playing outfield for the first time as a major leaguer, but struggled out of the gate with his new team. A badly bruised forearm landed him on the disabled list in April, but he has hit the ball much better since his return. Some of his biggest hits as a Giant have come against his former teams. On April 6th during his second game with San Francisco, he hit his first home run with the team, a two-run blast against the Diamondbacks. Against the Brewers, he had two pinch-hit, run-scoring doubles that broke ties late in games. On Monday, June 5th, he smoked a double down the left field line with the bases loaded, scoring a pair of runs to put the Giants up 4-2 in the eighth inning. On Thursday, June 8th, he hit another two-bagger to score Austin Slater from first in the sixth inning, snapping a 3-3 deadlock. Also, on June 3rd, he had another RBI pinch-hit, coming up with a ninth-inning hit to score a run against the Philadelphia Phillies as the Giants attempted to make a late comeback. Hill is the 624th player in Major League history to record 1,500 hits. He is currently 28th among active players in career hits.