Michael Conforto, Blake Sabol, Mike Yastrzemski, Wilmer Flores and J.D. Davis homered to boost the visiting San Francisco Giants to a 16-6 rout of the Chicago White Sox on Thursday afternoon.
San Francisco punctuated its power surge, drilling 13 home runs to win the interleague series 2-1.
Conforto jolted the Giants with a three-run blast in the first inning, connecting against White Sox right-hander Lance Lynn on a 1-2 pitch with two outs. There were two outs in the second when Sabol went deep, the first of the rookie’s three hits.
Yastrzemski hit a two-run home run against Lynn in the fifth, and Flores added a two-run shot against Jose Ruiz in the sixth. Davis jumped on the first pitch he saw from Chicago position player Hanser Alberto — making his second relief appearance of the series — for a ninth-inning grand slam.
Giants left-hander Alex Wood labored through his first start of the season, needing 71 pitches to complete 3-plus innings. Wood scattered three runs, one earned, and six hits while walking two and striking out three.
Lynn (0-1) endured an even rougher time, spacing eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings with three walks and five strikeouts.
Four of the hits Lynn allowed went for extra bases, with three leaving the ballpark.
Tim Anderson hit a two-run single against Wood in the second inning to bring Chicago to within 4-2. Wood allowed successive singles to start the White Sox fourth and was removed for Jakob Junis. Wood was charged with a run on Andrew Vaughn’s RBI single later in the inning.
Junis (2-0) was the winner, allowing two hits, two walks and posting four strikeouts in four scoreless innings.
Thairo Estrada, Conforto and Davis (5 RBIs) joined Sabol with three-hit games for the Giants, who outhit Chicago 20-11.
Jake Burger’s second-inning double was Chicago’s lone extra-base hit until Andrew Benintendi and Elvis Andrus had successive RBI doubles against Giants position player Matt Beaty in the ninth. Andrus’ hit scored two runs.
San Francisco infielder Brandon Crawford was held out with forearm tightness, but the club said he’s expected to play in Friday’s home opener against the Kansas City Royals.
–Field Level Media
