The Giants weathered significant injuries to starters Mitch Haniger and J.D. Davis Tuesday night in an 11-3 road win over the St. Louis Cardinals.
Both players were hurt in the third inning, with Haniger suffering a fractured right forearm after St. Louis starter Jack Flaherty hit him on the first pitch of his at-bat.
The injury happened just moments after Davis departed following a right ankle sprain while attempting to go from first to third on a single by teammate Michael Conforto.
Well before the Giants announced those injuries, they had taken the precaution of removing outfielder Luis Matos and infielder David Villar from the Sacramento River Cats’ game in Texas against Sugar Land.
One or both could be in St. Louis Wednesday for the last game of a three-game series, with the Giants (35-32) going for a sweep.
Signed as a free agent in the offseason, Haniger has already missed 21 games in 2023 with an oblique strain.
The Giants chased Flaherty (3-5) in the fourth inning and finished with 17 hits, with Conforto going 4-for-6 with three RBIs and Mike Yastrzemski and Patrick Bailey hitting back to back home runs in the sixth inning off reliever Genesis Cabrera.
Yastrzemski’s was an opposite field shot against a lefty, his seventh of the season. Bailey’s home run was his third.
The Giants took 3-2 lead against Flaherty on Conforto’s run-scoring single in the third and chased him from the game in the fifth with rookies Casey Schmitt and Bailey hitting run scoring singles to make it 5-2.
After Flaherty’s exit, Brandon Crawford popped a fair safety squeeze bunt against Cabrera in fair territory for the third run of the inning and a 6-2 lead.
Flaherty, who had held opponents to one run or less in his previous three starts, gave up 10 hits and six earned runs in 4 1/3 innings with three walks and three strikeouts. St. Louis fell to 27-41.
Giants starter Alex Cobb was removed after four innings and 79 pitches, giving up two earned runs with two walks and five strikeouts. Rather than send Cobb out for the fifth, the Giants opted for right-hander Luke Jackson out of the bullpen.
Jackson (1-0) was the winning pitcher after throwing a scoreless fifth, with rookie Keaton Winn credited with the save for pitching the last three innings in his major league debut before a large contingent of family and friends. Winn, from Ollie, Iowa, walked three and struck out two. Before arriving Monday, Winn had never been in a big league ballpark.
Both starting pitchers were shaky in the first inning, with Conforto hitting a two-run double against Flaherty in the top of the first and the Cardinals tying it against Cobb in a 32-pitch inning that included a line shot single back at the pitcher by Nolan Arenado with a second run scoring on a fielders choice.
NOTABLE
— In the fourth inning, Flaherty got into a shouting match with LaMonte Wade Jr. after the third out of the inning with both benches emptying briefly with no punches thrown and no ejections. Wade had doubled and was at second base.
— Crawford’s safety squeeze bunt was his first sacrifice bunt in 4,316 at-bats dating back to September of 2014.
— The three-game series concludes with a getaway day game Wednesday with right-hander Anthony DeSclafani (4-6, 3.89) opposing St. Louis left-hander Jordan Montgomery (3-7, 3.88)
Following an off day on Thursday, the Giants visit Chavez Ravine for a three-game series Friday through Sunday against the Los Angeles Dodgers, who are second in the N.L. West behind the Arizona Diamondbacks.
