Pederson, Davis propel Giants to 6-4 win over Brewers

By HENRY SCHULMAN (Associated Press)

SAN FRANCISCO — Joc Pederson hit a go-ahead, two-run single against Corbin Burnes in the fifth inning that propelled the San Francisco Giants to a 6-4 victory over the scuffling Milwaukee Brewers in the opener of a three-game series Friday night.

J.D. Davis and pinch-hitter Wilmer Flores homered for the Giants, who erased a pair of two-run deficits and won their third straight following a five-game skid.

The Brewers fell to 0-4 on their trip to Colorado and San Francisco and dropped their fifth in a row overall after starting the season 18-9.

Sean Manaea (1-1) allowed four runs — three earned — in five innings for his first win with the Giants.

Burnes (3-2), the former Saint Mary’s College standout, permitted five runs over six innings, but only two were earned. A two-base throwing error by shortstop Willy Adames keyed a three-run fifth that gave San Francisco a 5-4 lead.

The Giants pointed to two big moments in overcoming a 2-0 first-inning deficit and eventually beating the 2021 NL Cy Young Award winner.

The first was Davis’ team-leading seventh homer, in the bottom of the first, which tied the game 2-all. The other was Manaea striking out William Contreras to strand two runners in the second. Contreras, batting leadoff for the first time in the majors, had doubled to start Milwaukee’s two-run first.

Davis’ homer was a rarity at Oracle Park, a right-handed drive over the right-field wall, which rises 24 feet above the warning track.

“My goal, I’ve told all these guys, is to be one of the first righties to hit it into the water,” Davis said, referring to McCovey Cove behind the right-field wall.

In fact, no right-handed hitter has reached the cove since the park opened in 2000.

Giants manager Gabe Kapler said the homer was especially huge given who threw the pitch.

“Just scratching across a run or two against Burnes is always going to feel like a win, let alone scoring two in an inning on a home run,” Kapler said. “You just don’t expect that to happen.”