The San Francisco Giants began Friday evening’s contest at Coors Field with a Major League-worst 52 home runs.
Enter pitcher Jeff Samardzija.
In the top half of the fifth inning, Samardzija smoked a fastball from Rockies’ right-hander Antonio Senzatela over the right center field fence at Coors Field to give the Giants a 4-1 lead.
Jeff Samardzija home run + bat flip + scream: pic.twitter.com/u77Gc5v3Ui
— Alex Pavlovic (@PavlovicNBCS) June 17, 2017
According to Statcast, the home run had an exit velocity of 109 miles per hour and traveled 446 feet.
The round-tripper was the third home run hit by the Giants on Friday, as Samardzija followed left-handers Denard Span and Joe Panik, who both hit solo shots earlier in the game.
The home run was the third of Samardzija’s career, and his first since May 13, 2013, when Samardzija launched a home run at Wrigley Field against the Colorado Rockies.
The two runs Samardzija drove in were his first two RBIs of the season. Last season, the player the Giants call “Shark” drove in a career-high nine runs.
Samardzija was not the first Giants’ pitcher with an RBI in the series, as Ty Blach delivered a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth inning of San Francisco’s 10-9 loss on Thursday.
