Grant McCray shines as Giants sink Padres

Sep 8, 2024, 7:01 AM | Updated: 9:08 am

SAN DIEGO, CALIFORNIA - SEPTEMBER 07: Grant McCray #58 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates after...

(Photo by Orlando Ramirez/Getty Images)

Sactown Sports

Rookie Grant McCray homered twice and knocked in five runs on Saturday night as the visiting San Francisco Giants posted a 6-3 win over the San Diego Padres.

McCray erased an early 2-0 deficit with a three-run blast in the second inning off San Diego starter Dylan Cease (12-11), then added insurance in the ninth by cracking a two-run homer off reliever Yuki Matsui. McCray entered the contest hitting .246 with three homers in 18 big-league games this season.

Giants starter Logan Webb (12-9) lasted six innings to earn the victory, scattering 10 hits and three runs to go along with two walks and three strikeouts. Webb was helped by a defense that turned three double plays, including one that hampered a potential big first inning.

Grant McCray does it AGAIN 🤯 pic.twitter.com/0cGjuoJOSa

— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) September 8, 2024

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Three relievers got the final nine outs for the Giants, with Ryan Walker pitching the ninth for his sixth save of the year as San Francisco improved to 70-73 and took a 5-4 lead against San Diego in the season series.

Cease permitted six hits and four runs over six innings, walking two and fanning four. The loss dropped the Padres to 81-63, although they remained 1 1/2 games ahead of Arizona for the National League’s first wild-card spot after the Diamondbacks’ 11-5 loss to the Houston Astros earlier Saturday.

San Diego started quickly for the third straight game with two runs in the first, but Webb did a solid job of limiting the damage the rest of the way. The first four men of the frame reached, with Manny Machado singling home Luis Arraez. Webb induced a double-play ball from Xander Bogaerts that plated the second run, then got David Peralta to fly out.

McCray put the Giants ahead for good an inning later, unloading a no-doubt homer to right field that soared an estimated 417 feet and traveled about halfway into the lower deck. Two innings later, his double-play grounder scored Patrick Bailey for a 4-2 advantage.

Arraez’s third hit of the game, an RBI single in the fifth, pulled the Padres within 4-3.

–Field Level Media