Estrada gives SF Giants necessary jolt in return to beat White Sox

SAN FRANCISCO — Back in the lineup Monday night for the first time in three weeks, Thairo Estrada provided the Giants just the jolt they were seeking.

Estrada’s one-out single was the first of five consecutive Giants hits in a four-run fifth inning that provided all the cushion required to hand the White Sox their league-worst 96th loss of the season, 5-3.

“Nice to have ‘T’ back,” said starting pitcher Kyle Harrison, who tossed six one-run innings and benefitted from Estrada’s defense to get him out of a bases-loaded jam.

With Ryan Walker unavailable after pitching two innings in Sunday’s win over the A’s, manager Bob Melvin called on Jordan Hicks to record his first save since moving back to the bullpen. Hicks allowed the potential tying run to reach second base but got Cal alums Andrew Vaughn and Korey Lee to fly out to secure the save, improving the Giants’ record back over .500 (64-63) and within 3½ games of the Braves, who were idle.

“It was fun,” said Hicks, whose last save came last Aug. 28 with the Blue Jays. “Stressful, but fun.”

In his second at-bat back from missing 21 games with a sprained left wrist, Estrada poked a 2-1 slider from White Sox starter Jonathan Cannon through the right side of the infield and came around to score the first run of the inning on Curt Casali’s line drive into center.

With Casali’s RBI single, the Giants matched their number of hits with runners in scoring position over their weekend series in Oakland, and they got two more from Tyler Fitzgerald and LaMonte Wade Jr. before Cannon recorded the third out of the inning.

“It was a tremendous feeling for me,” said Casali, who had appeared in only three of the Giants’ 19 games since their July 27 double-header and was told about 2 hours before first pitch that he would be in the starting lineup after Patrick Bailey was scratched with right side tightness.

The second game of that twin bill was the last time Casali recorded a hit, and the RBI was his first since June 27.

“I needed one of those,” he said. “I haven’t hit the ball hard very much lately. To be able to have a plan and execute a plan was really nice for me, personally. And then the boys kept tacking on after that. … That’s good baseball right there.”

Leading off the fifth, Matt Chapman extended the lead to 5-1 and became the first Giants hitter to reach 20 home runs, pulling a sweeper over the outer half of the plate midway up the bleachers in left field. The Giants improved to 39-9 when scoring at least five runs but did so for only the second time in 10 games since August 9.

The Giants finished with 12 hits while going 4-for-6 with runners in scoring position, both their best showings since the final game of their road trip last Sunday.

That proved to be more than enough support for Harrison, who surpassed his previous career-high in innings while completing six for the first time in four August starts. The 23-year-old left-hander limited the majors’ worst lineup to a lone run on five hits and two walks while striking out five.

“It seems like he’s really comfortable pitching here,” Melvin said of Harrison, who lowered his ERA in 11 starts this season at Oracle Park to 3.43. “Whether it’s (pitching) out over the plate and giving up some fly balls or whatever, he just senses that this a good place for him to pitch in.”

Luis Robert Jr. singled home Brooks Baldwin to open a 1-0 lead in the top of the fifth after the rookie shortstop drew a one-out walk and swiped second.

Harrison was otherwise adept at working his way out of trouble, with an assist from Estrada.

After allowing the White Sox to load the bases with nobody out in the third, Harrison got their leadoff batter, Lenyn Sosa, swinging with a slurve for the first out and ended the inning one batter later, when Robert shot a sharp ground ball to Estrada’s left that the second baseman gloved and fired to second to start a 4-6-3 double play.

Harrison attacked Robert with a first-pitch heater and the White Sox slugger sent it toward second at 107 mph.

“I wanted to challenge him with a heater and get ahead,” Harrison said. “The guy was ready for it and put a good swing on it, but (Estrada) made an even better play.”

Harrison stranded another pair in the fourth after allowing back-to-back singles gave the White Sox runners at the corners to start the inning.

Besides Robert’s fifth-inning single, Harrison surrendered only one other hit in eight at-bats with a runner in scoring position. In his past nine starts dating back to June 10, Harrison has limited opponents to five hits — one for extra bases — in 31 chances (a .161 average) after runners reach second or third base.

“That’s what pitching is all about right? Being able to get yourself out of those,” Harrison said. “I’ve had previous opportunities earlier in the season where I’ve had those scenarios come up and I just really want to slow down in that time, make a pitch and execute. That’s really all you can do.”