Jesus Sanchez’s key hit, solid pitching lead Marlins to first win of season over Giants

Jesus Sanchez’s first hit of the season was a big one.

The center fielder’s seventh-inning RBI single served as the go-ahead run for the Miami Marlins in their 2-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Saturday at Oracle Park for the team’s first win of the 2022 season.

The left-handed hitting Sanchez drove in Brian Anderson, who led off the inning with a double to left-center field, with the hit capping a six-pitch at bat against Giants left-handed reliever Jake McGee, who had 31 saves last year for the National League West division champions.

It was Sanchez’s first hit of the season despite having a solid approach and a few lengthy battles over his first nine plate appearances of the season. This includes a 10-pitch plate appearance in the 10th inning Friday that resulted in a walk and a nine-pitch plate appearance in the fifth against Giants starter Carlos Rodon in which Sanchez fouled off six consecutive pitches before striking out looking on an elevated curveball that just clipped the top of the strike zone.

“I’ve been battling every at-bat,” Sanchez said. “It shows what I bring every day to the field. I’m always going to be fighting at the plate. At the end of the day, that’s a success and the results come with it.”

Pablo Lopez held the Giants to one run on three hits and a walk while striking out six over five innings in his 2022 debut. Lopez at one point retired 12 consecutive batters before getting into his lone jam of the game with two outs in the fifth.

Thairo Estrada reached on a line-drive single to left and then scored one at-bat later when Steven Duggar hit an RBI double to left with the Marlins’ outfield shifted right — similar to the positioning Miami had in place on the Giants’ walk-off hit in the 10th inning Friday — to tie the game 1-1. Lopez then walked Joey Bart (his only walk issued Saturday) before getting Mike Yastrzemski to ground out to limit the damage to the one run.

Steven Okert (1 1/3 innings with four strikeouts), Cole Sulser (2/3 innings with one strikeout), Richard Bleier (1 inning with three strikeouts) and Anthony Bender (1 inning) finished the game with four scoreless innings of relief. Bender recorded his first save of the season after giving up a game-tying home run in the ninth on Friday.

“We all push for each other,” Okert said. “We’re all trying to help each other with whatever we can do. ... We know what we have and what we can do.”

The Marlins opened scoring in the third inning with Jon Berti going station to station around the bases. He recorded an infield single and got to second on a Wilmer Flores throwing error, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a fielder’s choice when Giants catcher Joey Bart dropped a third strike against Jorge Soler and made the throw to first to record the out against Soler.

This story was originally published April 9, 2022 at 7:03 PM.

Jordan McPherson

Miami Herald

305-376-2129

Jordan McPherson covers the Miami Hurricanes and Florida Panthers for the Miami Herald. He attended the University of Florida and covered the Gators athletic program for five years before joining the Herald staff in December 2017.