SAN FRANCISCO — When Luis Matos debuted as the second-youngest player in the majors last June, “Matos Mania” was born. The Venezuelan outfield phenom collected hits and scored runs at a rate that put him in the same conversation as Willie McCovey in franchise lore.
Matos, now, is almost a year older. He boasts somewhere in the range of 20 pounds of extra muscle.
And with another six RBIs in the Giants’ 14-4 win over the Rockies on Saturday, Matos surpassed even more exclusive company.
This time around, the inner-circle Hall of Famer with whom the Giants’ young outfielder is keeping company is Orlando Cepeda, who held the franchise record for the most runs driven in over a two-game stretch at 22 years old or younger with nine between June 3 and 4, 1959.
Matos had already matched Cepeda when he stepped to the plate in the eighth inning, then added two more RBIs to his ledger with his third hit of the afternoon. He has 11 RBIs in his past two games, matching Jack Clark (1982) and Bill Terry (1932) for the franchise record by a player of any age.
“Man, that’s a lot of RBIs,” his astonished and appreciative manager, Bob Melvin, said.
“I’m just trying to get on base for him,” added Matt Chapman, who reached base five times and was driven home twice by Matos.
The offensive infusion provided by the rookie, who was only called up Sunday, powered the Giants to their third consecutive win, something they hadn’t done in their first 46 games of the season. They were the last of the league’s 30 teams still seeking a three-game win streak after Colorado ripped off seven in a row entering this series.
After accounting for five of the Giants’ 10 runs in their win Friday night, it didn’t take long for Matos to add to his total the following afternoon.
Stepping to the plate in the bottom of the first with Chapman and Thairo Estrada on second and third, Matos cleared the bases with one swing, whacking a cutter left over the plate by Rockies starter Ty Blach into the left-field bleachers for his second home run of the season.
“It just seems like he’s tracking the ball every time up,” Melvin said. “He’s aggressive. He’s wearing that left-center field gap out. … It’s like player of the week stuff that he’s doing right now.”
The home run gave Kyle Harrison a 3-0 lead with which to work, and Matos drove in another run — Chapman again — with a double in his next trip to the plate that made it 6-3 after the Rockies cut into the advantage in the top half of the third.
Pitching on an extra day of rest, Harrison gave the Giants five innings on 79 pitches, striking out four, walking two and surrendering three runs on five hits, but it was enough for San Francisco to win for the seventh consecutive time the 22-year-old left-hander has taken the mound.
“I’d have liked to have him go back out again, but at the time it seemed like they were squaring him up a little toward the end,” Melvin said. “You look at it and it’s five innings and only three runs, two walks, they had some good swings and made him work pretty hard.”
Despite playing in a fraction of the games, Matos has already driven in more runs than anyone on the team besides Estrada (25), Chapman (20) or Michael Conforto (20). In fact, his 17 RBIs are more than anyone in franchise history has totaled in his first six games of a season with a plate appearance.
Led by Matos, the Giants’ dormant offense has awoken the past two games against a Rockies pitching staff that had limited opponents to a 13 earned runs in 63 innings, a 1.86 ERA, over the seven-game win streak Colorado took into the series.
After only scoring in double figures once in 45 previous games, they have done so each of the past two games, totaling 24 runs on 32 hits.
“It’s not just (Matos); it’s been one after the other,” Melvin said. “All the guys that you hear about — guys from our system — are now getting a shot with the big-league team and probably getting their best chance ever. It’s been a jolt of energy for us and been a really good feeling in the dugout.”
Making his second start back from a right shoulder strain, Jorge Soler apparently rediscovered his knack for driving in runs. Coming up twice with runners in scoring position, the designated hitter delivered RBI knocks both times. He had been 3-for-26 (.115) in those situations before being placed on the injured list.
Soler’s RBI double in the second inning was rocketed off the bat at 114 mph, the hardest-hit ball by a Giants batter this season.
The Giants’ nine doubles were their most in any game since moving to San Francisco, not done since a 1912 meeting at Ebbets Field against the Brooklyn Dodgers.
And for as well as Matos has swung the bat, he doesn’t even lead the team in hits the past two games.
That distinction belongs to Chapman, who went 4-for-4 — the second four-hit game of his career — and scored three runs after going 3-for-4 and scoring three times the previous night. The two games alone were enough to raise Chapman’s batting average to .236 from .206 and his OPS to .676 from .599.
“He can get a little streaky at times; now you’re seeing what he has to offer,” said Melvin, who managed Chapman for five seasons in Oakland. “I was pulling for that five-hit game, but he draws a walk and isn’t trying to do too much. He’s getting better balls to hit and using the whole field.
“Typically that’s what he does when he’s swinging the bat well. But this is who he is. He’s made a nice career for himself and we were lucky to get him.”
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As expected, the Giants transferred Jung Hoo Lee (torn labrum) to the 60-day injured list and used the open spot on the 40-man roster to add outfield depth, claiming OF Ryan McKenna on waivers from the Orioles. McKenna, 25, is a career .224/.302/.332 hitter over 517 MLB plate appearances and can play all three outfield positions.
Blake Snell (adductor strain) will make his next start for the Giants, with a “good chance” of it coming Wednesday in Pittsburgh, Melvin said. In two rehab starts for Single-A San Jose and Triple-A Sacramento, Snell has struck out 19 batters in nine innings while allowing one hit and not issuing a walk.
Alex Cobb (flexor strain) is unlikely to be ready to be activated when eligible next Monday. He has yet to resume throwing after suffering his latest setback and “there just hasn’t been progress,” Melvin said. “He’s still feeling it in his shoulder a little bit and we’re not really sure what’s causing it.”
Up next
RHP Jordan Hicks (3-1, 2.44) vs. RHP Dakota Hudson (1-6, 6.13) Sunday in the series finale, with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.
