The Brewers lost starting shortstop Willy Adames to a freak injury, then they lost the plot.
Adames, who hit 31 home runs last year, got struck by a stray foul ball in the second inning. After a few minutes of paused play, he eventually made his way down to the training room.
It’s impossible to know how much the scary accident affected Milwaukee, but his teammates looked distraught and played rattled.
Once play resumed, and the Giants got up to bat, San Francisco dropped seven runs. In the unraveling, Milwaukee committed two errors on routine plays.
After Adames left, the Giants outscored the Brewers 13 to zero, most of which came in their biggest inning in over a year. Mitch Haniger and Brett Wisely each doubled and homered, while J.D. Davis ordered the home run and double-double combo special. Eight different Giants had at least one hit in the 15-1 victory.
Now with nine wins in their past 11 games, the Giants (26-25) are over. 500 for the first time in 2023.
Adames’ injury came when the Giants had already built a 2-1 lead. After taking the foul ball to the head, Adames staggered backwards to the bench. A somber, three-minute delay ensued, and Adames eventually walked to the Brewers’ home training room. He later got transported to a local hospital for further medical attention, according to the broadcast.
Brice Turang replaced Adames at shortstop, and two quick Brewers errors ensued. Then came the onslaught.
Blake Sabol, who reached on the first of those errors, scored from first on a J.D. Davis error. After the second error, Mitch Haniger — who socked his third homer of the season in the second inning — doubled in two more runs.
Haniger’s at-bats have been improving recently. He entered Friday with a career-high 48.4% hard-hit rate, indicating his slow start will soon turn around.
Rookie catcher Patrick Bailey scored Haniger with one of his four hits. To add on, Brett Wisely crushed a three-run homer 408 feet to right, putting the Giants up 10-1.
Wisely was in the lineup over Brandon Crawford, with Casey Schmitt playing shortstop and Thairo Estrada dealing with minor left wrist soreness. The decision to bench Crawford in place of the younger utility option paid off.
It became the Giants’ first inning in which they scored at least seven runs since April 22, 2022.
That huge burst allowed starter Alex Wood to work his deepest start of the year. He allowed one run in 5.1 innings striking out and walking five.
The Giants kept pouring it on after Wood got relieved. Davis’ home run had an exit velocity of 107.7 mph and would’ve left all 30 ballparks. Bailey roped a double from the right side of the plate for his fourth hit.
Bailey was one of five Giants with multiple knocks as SF out-hit Milwaukee 19 to four. In a strange quirk, San Francisco’s top hitters, LaMonte Wade Jr. and Blake Sabol, each went 0-for-6.
Eight other Giants aside from them, though, got a hit. They raked against every Brewers pitcher except Mike Brossseau, the position player, in the ninth inning.