Go-ahead grand slam another encouraging sign for Chapman

SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Chapman felt he was trending in the right direction after going deep against the Rockies on Friday night. He took another step forward by producing an even bigger swing less than 24 hours later.

Chapman launched a go-ahead grand slam to cap a five-run sixth inning that powered the Giants past the Rockies, 6-3, on Saturday afternoon at Oracle Park.

The Rockies took a 3-1 lead after tagging San Francisco starter Jordan Hicks for three runs in the top of the sixth, but the Giants quickly answered back in the bottom half of the inning.

Colorado starter Bradley Blalock held the Giants to only two hits over his first five innings -- including a third-inning solo shot to designated hitter Luis Matos -- but he couldn’t get out of the sixth after issuing a pair of free passes to Matos and Mike Yastrzemski. Willy Adames drew another walk off reliever Jake Bird to load the bases with one out for Jung Hoo Lee, who ripped an RBI single up the middle to bring the Giants within one.

Chapman then put San Francisco ahead for good by driving a middle-middle sinker from Bird out to the visitor’s bullpen in right-center field for his third career grand slam.

“I swung at the first-pitch slider and then he came back there with a sinker and left it a little bit over the middle of the plate,” Chapman said. “I’m sure he wanted to try to get that in more for a double-play ball. But my thought was to drive something to the big part of the field. Worst-case scenario, we tie the game, 3-3, with a sac fly. That’s kind of where my mind was at.”

“That was really awesome to see,” said Hicks, who struck out a season-high seven but didn’t factor into the decision after giving up three runs over five-plus innings. “Overall, great swing. The ball just kind of jumped off his bat. Pretty cool moment.”

The Giants have made a habit of coming back late this season, as they now have 11 wins when trailing by two or more runs, the most in the Majors in 2025.

“Obviously, [Chapman’s grand slam] was the hit of the game, but this is something we’ve been doing for a while now,” manager Bob Melvin said. “If we do get down, we don’t really fret. We continue to push and grind on it.”

Chapman, 32, entered Friday mired in a 6-for-43 funk over his previous 13 games, but he’s now tied with Wilmer Flores for the team lead in home runs (seven) after going yard in back-to-back games for the first time this season. Chapman felt his at-bat quality was mostly there -- he ranks second in the Majors with 27 walks this season -- but he said it’s nice to see his power stroke start to show up again.

“I felt like I’ve been hitting a lot of balls hard, even in the last month, and just finding gloves sometimes,” said Chapman, who is batting .205 with a .773 OPS over 34 games this year. “I feel like I’ve been taking a lot of walks, hitting balls hard. It’s nice to have some balls go over the fence.”

While Chapman can be streaky at times, he has the ability to carry the Giants’ lineup when he gets hot, which is one of the reasons the club has kept him in the cleanup spot this season. Since the start of last season, San Francisco is 44-13 when Chapman records an RBI in a game and 26-6 when he homers, making him one of the biggest offensive bellwethers for the team.

“A lot of his home runs, a lot of his hits have been impactful,” Melvin said. “His defense is always impactful. We have quite a few guys that we feel like we can get more out of offensively, but he had pretty timely hitting today. Hopefully that can boost his confidence some at the plate.”

The Giants also saw some encouraging power from Matos, who came into Saturday’s game batting only .146 over his first 13 games but got the starting nod at DH to give Flores the day off. The 23-year-old outfielder rewarded the Giants’ faith in the third, smoking a 1-0 slider from Blalock out to left field for his second home run of the year and his first since April 2.

“That was great,” Melvin said. “The guy gets to play against lefties only. He’s got probably better success against righties. He gets an opportunity today, puts us on the board right away. He draws a couple of walks. He saw the ball a lot better today. It was just a completely different approach. That’s going to be good for him going forward.”