Matos' 3-run homer sets tone in 'feel-good' win to wrap up road trip

MIAMI -- After a week of struggling to put up runs, a three-run home run by Luis Matos felt like much more for the Giants on Sunday afternoon.

“It was huge,’’ manager Bob Melvin said. “Felt like a 20-run homer at the time.’’

Matos’ homer in the fourth inning gave the Giants all the runs they needed in a 4-2 win over the Marlins at loanDepot park.

The Giants (33-26), who were shutout in a 1-0 loss on Saturday, took two of the three games in the weekend series.

The Giants went 4-5 on their nine-game road trip with series wins in Washington and Miami.

“Obviously, we had to grind at the end, and it would be nice not having to play that game every day,’’ said Melvin, whose team was swept in Detroit before traveling to Miami. “Anytime you win a series on the road, you have to feel good about it, especially the way we have been scoring runs. We’ll take it. It would be nice to break out a little offensively, put a little distance in some of these games.

“Look, at the end of the day, we played a lot of close games on the road trip. [We finished] one-game under .500 [on the trip] and it felt worse than that coming into this game because of the games we play. It was nice to pull this one out.’’

San Francisco took a 1-0 lead in the third when Heliot Ramos scored from third on a Wilmer Flores groundout.

Then Matos broke things open in the fourth with a three-run homer to left that scored Casey Schmitt and Patrick Bailey.

It felt like San Francisco was going to finally break out the bats on Sunday, but Matos’ homer was pretty much it -- despite six baserunners in the final five innings.

“It felt really good, especially being able to contribute to the win for the team,” Matos said through interpreter Erwin Higueros. “It feels good to have a good game. It was a very important home run. We needed it.”

Matos was in the lineup for the first time since Monday’s loss in Detroit and played just his fourth game since May 18.

He was 0-for-9 before the deep fly to left, his fourth home run of the season.

“Huge swing for a guy who works really hard every day,’’ Melvin said. “Doesn’t get to play a whole lot, but his number is called when we’re not scoring any runs and he has the biggest swing in the game. Really, hats off to Luis for working hard and being prepared for something like that.’’

As was the case throughout the weekend series, the Giants got yet another strong start -- this one from Hayden Birdsong.

Birdsong (3-1) tossed 5 1/3 frames of one-run ball on five hits with five strikeouts.

“The runs are going to come,’’ Birdsong said. “We’re hitting the ball. We have to find that one swing late in the game to pull away. But we’re playing good baseball, if we keep it tight early, we play pretty well.’’

Miami infielder Xavier Edwards, who tied a franchise record with five hits in the game, got each of the first three hits allowed by Birdsong. Edwards scored in the sixth to cut the deficit to three.

Birdsong was pulled after allowing three straight hits with one out in the sixth, but five Giants relievers teamed up to close out the victory.

Birdsong admitted there was a little fatigue at the end of his outing.

“I felt good in the sixth, gave up a couple of bleeders on a couple of pitches [that] could have been better,’’ said Birdsong, who threw 88 pitches (57 strikes). “But I felt good. Needed one or two pitches to get a ground ball, and it just didn’t happen. But it’s OK, the bullpen came in and picked me up.”

Closer Camilo Doval got the final out of the eighth with bases loaded before working around a leadoff single in the ninth to earn his seventh save of the season and second this series.

San Francisco used six pitchers in the win with Doval going 1 1/3 innings for the second straight outing. He did the same to close out Friday’s 2-0 win against Miami.

After a long road trip, the Giants will head back home to begin a seven-game homestand Monday in a NL West showdown against the Padres.

“I think this [win] is going to help us a lot, especially the way we played here,” Matos said. “When we get home, we’re going to give 100 percent effort.”