Pablo Sandoval matched Willie Mays, Hector Sanchez hit his first big league home run and Madison Bumgarner won his third consecutive start as the Giants swept a doubleheader from the New York Mets with a 7-2 victory Monday night.
Sandoval hit safely in both games – he hit a two-run home run in the first inning of Game 2 – to extend his hitting streak to 16 games. That ties the San Francisco-era franchise record to start a season; the “Say Hey Kid” hit safely in the first 16 games of the 1960 season.
Mays ended up leading the NL with 190 hits that season.
The Giants swept a doubleheader in New York for the first time since 1997 and won three of four in the series at Citi Field, even though they played a man short in every game. They didn’t have Ryan Theriot on Friday or Saturday after he couldn’t get on the charter flight because of a severe stomach virus. They played both games Monday without Aubrey Huff, who sent a text message in the morning to Manager Bruce Bochy to say he had to attend to an urgent personal issue.
