SAN FRANCISCO — Have a night, Wilmer Flores.
Flores enjoyed the best game of his 13-year career, hitting three home runs — a grand slam, a three-run homer and a solo shot — en route to recording a career-high eight RBIs as the Giants beat the Athletics, 9-1, in their first game back in the Bay Area.
Flores provided more than enough run support for Logan Webb, who allowed one run over a season-high eight innings with four strikeouts.
In the bottom of the third, Flores stepped into the batter’s box with a golden opportunity to do damage: bases loaded, no outs. Flores got ahead in the count, 2-1, against the Athletics’ JP Sears before fouling off five consecutive pitches. Flores ran the count full on the at-bat’s ninth pitch, then capped off a 10-pitch battle by sneaking a middle-middle fastball over the left-field fence to give the Giants a 4-0 lead.
Flores’ night, evidently, was only getting started. In the bottom of the sixth, Flores stepped to the plate with runners on first and second. He brought them home — and himself — with one swing, a three-run homer that extended San Francisco’s lead to 7-0.
Two homers, apparently, wasn’t enough.
Flores capped off his night in the bottom of the eighth inning with his only homer without a runner on base, a solo shot that gave him three home runs in one game for the first time in his career.