Luis Matos helps Giants beat Marlins, end road trip on high note

Luis Matos launched a three-run home run, Hayden Birdsong carried a lead into the sixth inning and the San Francisco Giants held on for a second win in their three-game road series in Miami, 4-2 over the Marlins on Sunday afternoon.
Ryan Walker, Tyler Rogers and Camilo Doval each pitched out of a late-inning jam, stranding eight baserunners in the process while protecting a lead that resulted in the Giants’ fourth win on their just completed nine-game trip.
Birdsong (3-1) limited the Marlins to just one run and five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out five without issuing a walk.
Miami’s Xavier Edwards, who returned from the injured list Saturday after a 16-day absence due to a strained back, went 5-for-5. He doubled in the first before singling in the third, sixth, seventh and ninth.
After the Giants had taken a 1-0 lead in the third inning on Wilmer Flores’ infield out, Matos increased the advantage to four runs in the fourth with his two-out shot off Miami starter Ryan Weathers (1-1). Casey Schmitt, who had walked, and Patrick Bailey, who singled, were on base for Matos’ fourth homer of the season.
Those were the last of the runs allowed by Weathers in his six innings. He served up five hits and three walks and struck out seven.
Miami chipped away with single runs in the sixth on an Otto Lopez single and the seventh on Edwards’ fourth hit of the day, but saw opportunities to do further damage denied by the San Francisco bullpen.
After Walker got the final two outs of the sixth with two aboard to retain a 4-1 lead, Rogers struck out Jesus Sanchez and got Lopez to ground out with the bases loaded in a 4-2 game to end the seventh.
The Marlins loaded the bases again in the eighth, this time with two outs, before Doval got Javier Sanoja to ground to short to keep the hosts two runs behind.
With the help of a double-play grounder, Doval worked around Edwards’ career-best fifth hit and a walk to Lopez in a scoreless ninth for his seventh save.
Matos and Heliot Ramos had two hits apiece for the Giants, who won despite being held to four runs or fewer for the 14th consecutive game.