Rookie Daniel Susac didn’t hit a home run in his first 44 major league games.

The San Francisco Giants’ catcher now has three in the past two games after his two-run blast Thursday night fueled his team’s 4-1 win over the San Diego Padres, giving them a nice start to a seven-game road trip.

Susac will try to keep his power surge going on Friday night when the teams continue their four-game weekend series in San Diego.

Given the starting job after Patrick Bailey was dealt to the Cleveland Guardians in May, Susac went 11-for-23 in his first 11 games but then slumped and suffered a back injury that forced him to the injured list.

He entered Wednesday’s game with the Milwaukee Brewers mired in a 4-for-36 skid. Then came the first two homers of his career, making him the first San Francisco player to belt his first two homers in the same game since pitcher Jim Gott did it on May 12, 1985. Gott hit only four career homers in 11 seasons.

“I knew it was going to come eventually,” Susac said of his long-ball stroke. “It was just putting in the work in the cage. I’m just trying to get back to the swing that I feel I came into this year with.”

Giants manager Tony Vitello said he wants to see Susac swing the bat with the kind of conviction he displayed in college and during his journey through the minors.

“When you’re kind of trying to stake your claim and keep your locker in there, sometimes guys alter who they are,” Vitello said. “I think he just needs to stay true to who he is.”

While Susac and the Giants aim for a third straight win, San Diego tries to start another winning streak. The Padres came into the series opener on Thursday with five consecutive victories before their offense was held to six hits by Robbie Ray and three relievers. They scored 27 total runs in the winning streak.

Left-hander Carson Whisenhunt (2-1, 4.60 ERA) will try to match Ray’s solid performance on Friday night. He last pitched on Sunday, absorbing a 4-3 loss to the Los Angeles Angels after permitting five hits and four runs over five innings with two walks and seven strikeouts. This will be his first career start against the Padres.

Bradgley Rodriguez (2-2, 2.33) is listed as the starter for the Giants, but he will serve as an opener. He has three starts among his 44 appearances.

Fellow right-hander German Marquez (4-2, 5.17) most likely will enter as a bulk-innings reliever out of the bullpen. Marquez’s last outing was July 24, when he lasted 2 1/3 innings in a short start during his team’s 4-2 win in Miami against the Marlins. He’s 5-13 with a 7.20 ERA in 22 career appearances (21 starts) against San Francisco.

One of those losses came March 31, when Marquez allowed four runs on eight hits and a walk in three innings against the Giants.

The Padres were at least able to save a good chunk of their bullpen for the weekend’s remainder after Randy Vasquez fired 4 2/3 scoreless innings of long relief in the series opener.

“He saved the rest of the pen for some success tomorrow, hopefully,” San Diego manager Craig Stammen said. “We were able to lose in a good manner. I hope he feels good that he might have set us up for the next few days.”

The outcome dropped San Diego two games behind the idle Arizona Diamondbacks and Philadelphia Phillies for the final wild-card spot in the National League.

–Field Level Media

The signs of a revival are present for the Houston Astros in ways beyond their steady climb back to .500.

With their 7-4 road win over the Los Angeles Angels on Wednesday, the Astros finally evened their season record following a 20-31 start that contributed to their falling as many as six games behind in the American League West. When the Astros host the Texas Rangers on Friday, they will have an opportunity to claim the top spot in their division for the first time since April 6.

The three-game sweep of the Angels was the fourth of the season for the Astros, who have won eight of nine games and 28 of 47 games on the road since a 1-9 road trip early in the campaign. Since tumbling to a season-low 11 games under .500, Houston is 35-24.

“I’m very proud of how hungry we are out there,” Astros catcher Yainer Diaz said through an interpreter following his four-hit game on Wednesday. “Sometimes results are not how we want, but you have to keep going back out there. I’m very proud of how things are turning out for us.”

The Astros welcomed back right-hander Hayden Wesneski (elbow) from a 15-month stint on the injured list on Wednesday and, with the Rangers’ 3-2 loss to the Tampa Bay Rays to conclude a three-game series on Thursday, moved within a half-game of Texas in the AL West. Ascension seemed improbable when injuries decimated the Astros’ rotation. But now that the first step back into contention is complete, they have a legitimate jumping-off point to continue their climb up the standings.

Right-hander Hunter Brown (2-1, 3.45 ERA) will start the series opener for the Astros on Friday. He produced his best start since his return from a 10-week stint on the IL last Saturday at the Chicago White Sox. He threw seven shutout innings, allowed two hits and recorded seven strikeouts in a 4-1 victory. Brown was 0-1 with a 5.22 ERA in his first six starts off the IL.

Brown has a 4-4 record with a 3.00 ERA across 10 career starts against the Rangers. He did not factor into the decision in a 7-3 loss at Texas on July 10 after allowing three runs on four hits and five walks with four strikeouts over six innings.

Right-hander Nathan Eovaldi (10-8, 4.05) has the starting assignment for Texas. He is tied for second in the AL in victories and stands 11th with 130 strikeouts, but his 22 home runs allowed are the second-most in the league and one shy of his career high.

Eovaldi has nine quality starts in his last 14 outings.

Eovaldi is 5-6 with a 3.66 ERA in 16 career starts against the Astros, including a 1-1 record and 3.21 ERA in two starts this season. The Rangers have won his past three starts in Houston.

After mustering only six runs in the three-game series against the Rays, Texas will again lean on its rotation in Houston, with Jacob deGrom and Kumar Rocker following Eovaldi in the series.

“We feel good with those guys going,” Rangers manager Skip Schumaker said. “You always like deGrom and Evo going the first two games of a series, and then Rocker has been pitching really well. It should be an exciting series this weekend, and we’re looking forward to getting there.”

–Field Level Media

If Kody Clemens is looking for endorsements, he might try Denny’s. After all, an ultimate grand slam sounds like something you might order at one of their restaurants.

Clemens hit the 34th known “ultimate slam” in major league history Thursday — a walk-off homer with the bases loaded while trailing by three runs — to give the Minnesota Twins an improbable 4-3 victory against the visiting Kansas City Royals.

The Twins (55-55) reached .500 and pulled within a game of the American League’s third and final wild-card berth as they begin a nine-game trip Friday against the Seattle Mariners.

“That’s stuff that you dream about, stuff like that, when you’re a little kid,” Clemens said. “That’s what you envision doing.”

The Twins had just one hit through 8 2/3 innings, a single by Ryan Jeffers leading off the seventh against Royals starter Noah Cameron.

Jeffers sparked the ninth-inning rally when he was hit by a pitch from Lucas Erceg. Royce Lewis blooped a single to center and Josh Bell walked.

“Sometimes it starts with something very simple as a hit by pitch,” said Twins manager Derek Shelton, who celebrated his 56th birthday, “and then all of a sudden it’s like, ‘OK, there’s a little bit of life.'”

The Royals brought in left-hander Matt Strahm to face Clemens, who fell behind 0-2 in the count before hitting a blast to right-center field.

“The belief in every player in the lineup for me is so immense, and it’s for real, man. And it shows why,” Lewis said. “I just knew that we were going to get the job done. Until they say the game is over and you lost, I have belief that we’re going to win every game. It’s so much fun to be a part of.”

The Twins got another boost when, after landing in Seattle, they learned they’d reportedly acquired left-handed reliever A.J. Minter from the New York Mets.

While the Twins were going 4-2 at home against the Athletics and Royals, the Mariners finished a 2-5 trip to Texas and Los Angeles on Thursday night with a 6-2 loss to the defending World Series champion Dodgers.

The Mariners dropped 2 1/2 games back of the Rangers in the AL West and are three back in the wild-card standings.

“We know what we’ve got to do here, and we’ve just got to get it done,” said Seattle manager Dan Wilson, whose team won the division title last season and reached Game 7 of the AL Championship Series.

Friday’s series opener is scheduled to feature a pair of right-handers in the Twins’ Zebby Matthews (4-8, 5.21 ERA) and the Mariners’ Bryce Miller (4-5, 2.75).

Matthews has lost his past three outings, though he had a quality start last Friday against the Athletics when he allowed two runs on three hits over six innings of a 2-0 defeat. He’s 0-0 with a 5.14 ERA in one previous start against Seattle.

Miller, who debuted in 2026 on May 13, has also lost three starts in a row. He gave up a season-high five earned runs last Friday in a 5-4 loss at Texas. He’s 1-1 with a 6.75 ERA in three career starts versus Minnesota.

–Field Level Media