Stanton Hits Team-Record 43rd Homer, Marlins Beat Giants 8-3
By CHRISTOPHER STOCK, Associated Press
MIAMI (AP) — Giancarlo Stanton took care of business right away.
Stanton hit his team-record 43rd home run, connecting in his fifth straight game and sending the Miami Marlins over the San Francisco Giants 8-3 on Monday night.
Stanton broke the club mark of 42 homers set by Gary Sheffield in 1996, doing it in the Marlins' 117th game of the season.
"When you're one homer or one hit away from a record, you don't want to let it linger because then every at-bat is, 'Is he going to do it? Is he going to do it?'"
Stanton said. "So luckily I got it out of the way right away, put us on top, and able to finish."
Stanton has homered 22 times in his last 34 games.
"He's on a sick terror," Marlins second baseman Dee Gordon said. "He's amazing."
Said Giants manager Bruce Bochy: "Stanton is in one of those streaks very few power hitters have done what he's doing right now."
Stanton set another team record for most consecutive games with a home run when tagged Ty Blach (8-8) for a two-run drive in the first inning.
Blach said, "I thought I made a pretty decent pitch. He's such a strong guy."
The All-Star slugger later had an RBI single as Miami won its fourth in a row.
"For him to finally have a smile on his face and have a little charisma about himself and stop being so monotone all the time is pretty cool," Gordon said.
Marcell Ozuna also homered for the Marlins. Dee Gordon had three hits, scored twice, and drove in a run to help back Adam Conley (5-5), who allowed three runs in 6 1-3 innings.
"A lot of good things happened where you play the kind of game you like to see," Marlins manager Don Mattingly said. "Obviously Giancarlo's been incredible, but we know there's going to be nights he's not going to do it and we're going to have to be able to score runs somehow."
Denard Span's two-run double tied the game in the third and Hunter Pence's single put the Giants on top 3-2. Christian Yelich tied it with an RBI single in the bottom half.
Gordon and Stanton hit back-to-back RBI singles in the fourth. Ozuna hit a solo home run, his 27th, in the fifth.
GORDON HEATS UP
Gordon has a 10-game hitting streak at Marlins Park and is hitting .415 (17 for 41) during that span after his 16th three-hit game of the season.
Gordon led off with a single before Stanton immediately followed with a home run.
"It's been my fault the last week-and-a-half because I haven't been getting on base in front of him to start the game," Gordon said. "He's only been getting one RBI."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: 2B Joe Panik was hit in the head during the second game of Sunday's doubleheader at Washington and did not play. "He's doing well," Bochy said. "He's doing just fine. He was going to get the day off anyway playing both games, all three games there in one day. We'll see in another 24 hours to make sure he is OK. Looks good right now."
Marlins: LHP Wei-Yin Chen (arm) has a one-inning simulated game scheduled for Tuesday. ... SS JT Riddle (left shoulder) had labrum surgery last week and has been ruled out for six months.
UP NEXT
Giants: LHP Madison Bumgarner (2-5, 2.71 ERA) will start the second game of the series with RHP Matt Cain (3-9, 5.22) getting the start on Wednesday. Bumgarner is 1-3 with a 4.50 ERA in six starts against the Marlins.
Marlins: RHP Dan Straily (7-8, 3.74) will take the mound looking for his first win since July 7, a span of six starts. Straily is 0-4 with a 5.17 ERA during the span.
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