SF Giants' offense roars to life in win over Padres, secures Vitello's first series victory

Justice delos Santos, The Mercury News on Apr 1, 2026

Published in Baseball

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SAN DIEGO — The Giants’ offense has gradually come to life following back-to-back shutout losses to begin the season.

San Francisco’s lineup scored only one run on Saturday en route to being swept by the Yankees, but it amassed nine hits and scored its first run of the season. On Monday, Harrison Bader hit the team’s first home run as the offense scored just enough to get rookie manager Tony Vitello his first win. And on Tuesday, the offense finally enjoyed its first true outburst.

Willy Adames enjoyed a four-hit day and hit his second career leadoff homer. Matt Chapman hit a towering solo homer as well. Jung Hoo Lee drove in three runs, while Heliot Ramos collected two RBIs. San Francisco’s lineup collectively amassed 16 hits. With Logan Webb shaking off a rocky third inning to deliver his first quality start of the season, the Giants (2-3) secured a 9-3 win and their first series victory under rookie manager Tony Vitello.

Adames, batting in the leadoff spot for a second straight night, provided the Giants with an instant 1-0 lead by sneaking a line drive over the left-field fence for his first home run of the season. The shortstop’s only other leadoff homer was on the final day of the 2025 season, which allowed him to become the first Giant since Barry Bonds in 2004 to hit at least 30 home runs in a single season.

The Giants tacked on two more runs in the first when Jung Hoo Lee smoked a two-run double that drove in Heliot Ramos and Matt Chapman, giving San Francisco an early 3-0 lead. Chapman extended that advantage to 4-0 in the top of the third with a towering solo homer, his first of the season, that barely cleared the left-field fence.

San Diego cut San Francisco’s advantage to 4-3 in the bottom of the third thanks to a pair of one-out free passes. Webb gifted the Padres a free rally by walking Fernando Tatis Jr. and Manny Machado, setting the table for Jackson Merrill’s two-run single and Miguel Andujar’s RBI single.

The Giants widened their advantage in the top of the sixth inning by putting up a four-spot courtesy of Adames’ RBI single, Heliot Ramos’ two-run single and Luis Arraez’s sacrifice fly.

Rafael Devers contributed to the rally by turning on the burners and legging out an infield single, though he was only safe because Padres pitcher Kyle Hart missed the bag. Devers was clocked at 27.8 feet per second, well above his average sprint speed last year of 25.0 feet per second.

While Webb endured a rocky third inning, the two-time All-Star proceeded to retire the final 10 batters that he faced to end his night strong. In the bottom of the fifth, Webb struck out Tatis and Machado swinging, then punched out Merrill on a perfectly-placed front-hip sinker.

Webb had thrown 92 pitches at the end of five innings, but Vitello allowed Webb to go out for the sixth. The right-hander needed just 12 pitches to complete the frame.

Following Webb’s departure, right-hander JT Brubaker tossed two scoreless innings in the seventh and eighth, then right-hander José Buttó secured the win with a scoreless ninth.