San Francisco Giants throttle Cleveland Guardians again, complete three-game sweep
CLEVELAND — Thairo Estrada homered and drove in four runs, Alex Wood continued San Francisco's superb starting pitching and the Giants completed a three-game sweep with an 8-1 win Sunday over the Cleveland Guardians in football-like weather.
Estrada hit a two-run homer off Aaron Civale (0-1) in the second inning and Brandon Belt added a two-run shot in the seventh as the Giants won their fifth straight.
Wood (1-0) allowed just four hits without a run over five innings before turning it over to San Francisco's bullpen.
It was the ninth straight game in which a Giants starter allowed two runs or fewer, the second longest streak since 1901. Only the 1966 Chicago White Sox (11) have had a more extensive stretch to open a season.
The Guardians managed just six hits and were held to four runs in their first series at home after entering the weekend leading the majors in scoring.
The game-time temperature was 35 degrees, the coldest for a first pitch in a Giants game since 1990.
The weather conditions weren't ideal for players or fans, but they didn't seem to bother Wood in his first appearance against Cleveland since 2013 with Atlanta. The left-hander walked two and struck out five.
Estrada gave the Giants a 2-0 lead in the second with his second homer, a shot to left field that barely cleared the 19-foot wall. Estrada's homer came after Wilmer Flores doubled off the wall in left-center with two outs.
Estrada picked up another RBI in the fourth, when the Guardians failed to turn a double play on his one-out grounder to short as second baseman Owen Miller's return to throw to first skipped into the photographer's pit for an error.
The Giants made it 6-0 in the sixth on Estrada's RBI double and Steven Duggar's run-scoring single off Eli Morgan.
Belt followed a leadoff walk to Austin Slater in the seventh with his third homer.
Cleveland's Austin Hedges ended the shutout in the seventh with an RBI single, his first hit after starting the season hitless in 21 at-bats.
Bundled up
Some flurries swirled in the ballpark as Giants manager Gabe Kapler arrived in the dugout for his pregame media availability.
Stocking caps and winter gloves were again necessary with temperatures in the 30s and a stiff wind blowing in.
Kapler was asked if he remembered the coldest game he played in, and correctly guessed it came when he played for Colorado. What Kapler didn't remember of the 2003 game was that he got three hits.
“I did?” he said, joking he would dig up the video if his players complained about the cold.
Up next
Giants: Continue their four-city trip in New York with right-hander Alex Cobb (1-0) starting the first of four games against the Mets, who will counter with right-hander Tyler Megill (2-0).
Guardians: Right-hander Shane Bieber (0-0) starts the opener of a four-game home series against Chicago's Dallas Keuchel (1-0) and the White Sox.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Thairo Estrada, Alex Wood lead streaking Giants past Guardians
