Michael Conforto joins the “Giants Postgame Live” crew to discuss San Francisco’s 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins on Monday night.
MINNEAPOLIS -- When the Giants missed out on Aaron Judge in free agency and decided against going through with the contract offer to Carlos Correa, their first pivot to boost the lineup was outfielder Michael Conforto.
Conforto, who missed the entire 2022 MLB season due to shoulder surgery, is beginning to look like the missing piece the Giants hoped they added to hold down a corner outfield spot while bringing the offensive upside of a former All-Star.
In the first inning Monday night at Target Field, Conforto whacked a 1-0 fastball into the Giants' bullpen in left-center field for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead. It was a lead the Giants never squandered in their 4-1 win over the Minnesota Twins, a victory that carried over the good vibes from their 5-1 homestand into their seven-game road trip through the Midwest.
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"[He looks] similar to the guy that we saw in some of his best years," Giants manager Gabe Kapler said of Conforto after the win. “Very disciplined at the plate, taking good aggressive swings and looking to drive a pitch to the opposite field like he did tonight.”
Over his first 31 games of the season, Conforto was batting .168 with a negative ISO, meaning his slugging percentage was lower than his on-base percentage -- a rarity for a power hitter with three seasons of at least 27 homers on his resume.
After mashing that 413-foot dinger in the first inning -- his fifth in the last 11 games -- Conforto is batting .308/.345/.645 over his last seven contests. He’s finally turning the corner.
"I don’t think to come back after missing a year, against the best in the world, I’d be naïve to think that I could just jump right back in and not have to take any lumps," Conforto said Monday. "I’ve been trying to give myself a little grace, but it’s hard. You want to go out there and set the world on fire, but it’s a tough game."
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Conforto's blast was the exclamation point on an electric start for the Giants' offense. LaMonte Wade Jr. began the game with an eight-pitch walk, followed by a five-pitch walk from Mike Yastrzemski and a double by J.D. Davis.
That set the table for Conforto, who named Wade the unsung hero for the walk which sparked the rally.
"I love watching his at-bats. You know he’s not going to chase," Conforto said of Wade. "You know if he takes a pitch, it’s a ball. … I always pay close attention when he’s up. That’s really where things started."
The last time the Giants called for a bullpen game, it resulted in a disappointing 7-5 loss to the division rival Arizona Diamondbacks, one that started a three-game slump.
It was a different story Monday night, in large part to the four-run cushion in the first.
“It’s great. A bullpen game is a really challenging thing to pull off," Kapler said. "It’s always feels nice to have a guy like Alex Cobb or Logan Webb starting a game. When you don’t have that luxury, you know there’s going to be a battle. You know it’s potentially going to be back-and-forth a little bit.
"So, it’s nice to get that cushion to work with. It’s pretty impressive that everybody on our staff was able to make that hold up tonight."