*Photo from ABC30*
Jack Suwinski told his manager that he had never hit 3 home runs in a game. He was told now would be a good time. Hoy Park homered, Suwinski homered 3 times, and the Pittsburgh Pirates defeated the San Francisco Giants with a 4-3 walkoff win on Sunday afternoon in Pittsburgh.
Having already lost the series to the Giants, the Pirates were looking to salvage the rubber match on Sunday. Salvage it they did, winning just their second game out of 10. The home run did it all for the Pirates, and so did Suwinski, who had his first 3 homer game with his dad in attendance on fathers day.
Suwinski said of hitting 3 homers and delivering the walkoff that "It's just unbelievable. To do it on Father’s Day with my dad here, I know it means a lot to him and it means a lot to me, just the amount that he’s done for me. He’s always been there. Just being able to share that, knowing he’s here, it’s awesome. It’s hard to describe."
The Giants got on the board almost immediately in the first inning. Joc Pederson got it started, hitting a single to center field to score Luis Gonzalez and Mike Yastrzemski to make it 2-0 Giants. In the 3rd inning, Park got the Pirates on the board, hitting a solo home run to center field to make it 2-1.
One inning later, in the 4th, Suwinski hit his first home run of the day, a solo shot out to right field, tying the game at a 2-2 score. The lead then became 3-2 when Suwinski hit his second solo homer, this one in the 6th inning. In the 9th, the Giants tied it on a solo homer from Thairo Estrada. In the bottom of the 9th, Suwinski hit a leadoff walk off home run to give the Pirates a big win.
Suwinski said his mindset of possibly hitting a 3rd home run in his last at bat that "I was not trying to think about that. You start trying to do too much and then you just blow it or whatever. I was just trying to not think about that and just focus on what the pitcher had."
On the mound in the win for the Pirates was Mitch Keller, who turned in a solid outing. Keller allowed two runs on 3 hits and 3 walks, pitching 6 innings. Cam Vieaux added a shutout inning in the 7th, and David Bednar got the win with two innings of work, despite blowing the save in the top of the 9th.
For the Giants, Alex Cobb made his return from injury to start, allowing two runs over 4 innings pitched. Sam Long and Zack Littell pitched the next two innings, followed by appearances from Jarlin Garcia and Tyler Rogers, with Rogers getting hit with the loss.
Cobb said of his first start back from injury that "Whenever you have a long layoff, you hope your stuff returns to normal. The velocity was there. The other pitches, I’ll get a good work week in and find that minor movement that gets more of the depth that you’re looking for."
Up next, the Pirates play host to the Chicago Cubs on Monday night, with JT Brubaker getting the series opening start. The Giants head south to take on the Atlanta Braves on Monday, with Logan Webb to get the start.
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