Twins fall 7-1 to Giants as Harrison pitches five strong innings
Kyle Harrison pitched five strong innings, Brett Wisely had three hits and two RBIs, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Minnesota Twins 7-1 on Friday night.
The Giants had lost four of five coming into the game, but Harrison (5-4) improved to 4-2 in starts following a Giants loss. Wisely went 3 for 3 with a walk, finished a home run shy of the cycle and made a leaping grab at shortstop in the fifth to take away a run.
Harrison's off-speed pitches were working well, according to manager Bob Melvin.
"It was the fastball quality at the top of the zone and mixing his changeup and his breaking ball in — and throwing some for strikes too," Melvin said.
Harrison, helped by stellar defensive plays from Wisely and Heliot Ramos, kept the Twins – who came into the game second in the American League in batting average – off the scoreboard into the fifth inning.
Harrison, in his first full big league season, said he had a pretty healthy workload in the first half.
"I think I think there's room to improve on a lot of things — just strike throwing, punching guys out, I think that's my target for the second half: To get those punchies up, but I think pretty good overall," Harrison said.
San Francisco led two batters into the first after Jorge Soler led off with a triple and LaMonte Wade Jr, drove him in with a sacrifice fly. Wisely and Mike Yastrzemski knocked in runs in the second, and Soler had an RBI single in the fifth to give the Giants a 4-0 lead. Michael Conforto hit a two-run double in the seventh to pad the advantage to 7-1.
Wisely entered the game hitting .171 over his previous 10 games.
"Today, I just tried to go out there and play the kids game," Wisely said. "Get out of my own way and just have fun with it. Sometimes when that happens you get results, but I wasn't chasing results. I was trying to have fun and just enjoy myself."
Twins starter Joe Ryan (6-6) allowed five runs in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out six, and also recorded his 500th career strikeout. Willi Castro knocked in Minnesota's lone run in the fifth on an RBI ground out.
Ryan said his pitches were working well, but admitted to being tired with long innings.
"Don't get to go as deep into a game because of that, and I just gassed out a little quicker," Ryan said.
A HOMECOMING (OF SORTS)
Twins star Carlos Correa was greeted by boos from Giants fans, who remembered the shortstop agreed to a $350 million, 13-year deal with the Giants in 2022 only to have it fall apart the morning of the introductory press conference when issues surfaced around Correa's ankle during his physical. Correa then quickly signed with the Mets, who also reneged for similar reasons before he ended up back with the Twins.
Correa, who played in San Francisco on Friday for the first time since the fiasco, said he is happy with the Twins. He entered the game batting .310 with 13 home runs, and made the All-Star team for the third time.
"I was excited to explore the city," Correa said. "I was looking for houses and all that. So that part was exciting. But once it fell through, then it was time to move on."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Twins: 3B Jose Miranda, originally in the lineup, was scratched prior to first pitch with lower back tightness. … INF Kyle Farmer (right shoulder strain) was placed on the 10-day injured list, and catcher Jair Camargo was recalled from Triple-A St. Paul.
UP NEXT
Giants RHP Hayden Birdsong (1-0, 4.40 ERA) is scheduled to pitch against Twins RHP Simeon Woods Richardson (3-1, 3.48 ERA) on Saturday.
