Giants take series from Pirates as Encarnacion homers before leaving with injury

Justice delos Santos, Bay Area News Group on Aug 6, 2025

Published in Baseball

By clicking submit, I authorize Arcamax and its affiliates to: (1) use, sell, and share my information for marketing purposes, including cross-context behavioral advertising, as described in our Privacy Policy , (2) add to information that I provide with other information like interests inferred from web page views, or data lawfully obtained from data brokers, such as past purchase or location data, or publicly available data, (3) contact me or enable others to contact me by email or other means with offers for different types of goods and services, and (4) retain my information while I am engaging with marketing messages that I receive and for a reasonable amount of time thereafter. I understand I can opt out at any time through an email that I receive, or by clicking here

PITTSBURGH — Jerar Encarnacion cannot catch a break.

As the Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-2, on Wednesday afternoon at PNC Park, Encarnacion hit his second home run in as many games but left the game later with an apparent leg injury when trying to beat out an infield single.

After being swept by both the Pirates and New York Mets during their last homestand, the Giants (58-57) responded by taking two of three from both teams during their six-game East Coast road trip.

Robbie Ray turned in his second consecutive quality start, pitching six innings of two-run ball with eight strikeouts. Dominic Smith delivered a go-ahead, pinch-hit double in the top of the ninth inning, extending his hitting streak to 11 games.

If Encarnacion has to miss extended time, it would be another brutal blow for the 27-year-old.

Encarnacion was poised to make the Opening Day roster following his excellent play during spring but suffered a left hand fracture right before the start of the season. He made his season debut June 2 following an abbreviated rehab assignment, but the bad luck continued when he strained his left oblique and hit the injured list on June 17.

After being reinstated from the injured list prior to Friday’s 5-4 loss, Encarnacion hit his first home run of the season in Saturday’s 8-1 win.

Following four scoreless innings by Andrew Heaney, Encarnacion tied the score at 1-1 with a no-doubter to left field, his second homer in the last two games. At 442 feet, Encarnacion’s solo shot was the Giants’ second-farthest home run of the season, behind Willy Adames’ 452-foot homer at Coors Field in June.

Two innings later, Encarnacion’s afternoon took a turn for the worse.

In the top of the sixth, Encarnacion hit a grounder up the middle that looked on its way to center field. Pirates second baseman Nick Gonzales made a sliding stop and fired to first for the out. Encarnacion immediately began hobbling after crossing first base and grabbed at his right hamstring, prompting a visit from trainer Dave Groeschner.

Encarnacion would walk back to the dugout under his own power but had a noticeable limp. Manager Bob Melvin removed Encarnacion from the game and replaced him with Grant McCray, who went hitless in his one at-bat.