Mets look to avoid late collapse, end skid at Giants

The San Francisco Giants did something Friday night they've never done in franchise history.

Unfortunately for the New York Mets, so did they.

The surging Giants will look to maintain their momentum while the Mets will again try to end their extended skid Saturday afternoon, when San Francisco visits New York in the middle game of a three-game series.

Jordan Hicks (4-1, 2.38 ERA) is scheduled to start for the Giants against Luis Severino (2-2, 3.48) in a battle of right-handers.

The Giants mounted another multi-run comeback Friday night, when Patrick Bailey hit a go-ahead grand slam in the eighth inning before San Francisco fended off a ninth-inning rally by the Mets to earn an 8-7 win.

The Giants trailed 6-2 entering the eighth before scoring five runs -- all with two outs -- against Reed Garrett, who allowed just six runs (three earned) over his first 18 appearances entering Friday. Thairo Estrada laced an RBI double and Matt Chapman worked a seven-pitch walk before Bailey hit his first career grand slam on a 2-0 pitch.

The win was the third straight for the Giants, who have overcome deficits of four runs or more in each victory. San Francisco trailed by five runs in the fourth inning of a 9-5, 10-inning win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Wednesday before climbing out of a four-run hole by scoring five runs in the eighth inning of a 7-6 win Thursday afternoon.

It's the first time in the 142-year history of the Giants that they've won three straight games in which they trailed by at least four runs. San Francisco is the first team to pull off the feat since the then-Florida Marlins did so against the Giants from Aug. 9-11, 1999.

"Obviously, we've put ourselves in some of these situations and not been able to, you know, finish out games or put teams away -- whether it's been defensively or whatever it is -- but I think we learned from it," Chapman said. "We keep growing, we pick each other up and I think that's huge."

The loss was the fourth straight for the Mets and the third straight in which they've hit three homers. The latter is the first such streak in team history and only the fifth such streak in baseball history.

New York never led despite going deep three times in Tuesday's 7-6 loss to the Cleveland Guardians. Pete Alonso, Jeff McNeil and Harrison Bader all hit solo homers Wednesday before the Guardians scored the final six runs in a 6-3 victory.

Alonso, Vientos and J.D. Martinez homered to stake the Mets to their 6-2 lead Friday before the Giants stormed back to drop New York to 9-21 since April 20.

"You need to turn it around, otherwise, the season can get away from you in a hurry," Mets outfielder Brandon Nimmo said. "We're just going to try and stay positive in here. We're going to try and keep fighting and come ready to win and play tomorrow."

Hicks earned the win last Sunday after allowing one run over five innings in the Giants' 4-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies. He is 0-1 with a 3.38 ERA and four saves in nine career appearances (two starts) against the Mets.

Severino didn't factor into the decision in his most recent start May 18, when he gave up five runs over 6 2/3 innings as the Mets fell to the Miami Marlins, 10-9, in 10 innings. He took the defeat in his first career appearance against the Giants on April 23, when Severino surrendered three runs over six innings in the Mets' 5-1 loss.