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    Giants defeat Padres for Tony Vitello's first win as manager

    Marcus D. Smith, USA TODAY
    ·
    3 min read

    The San Francisco Giants ended their winless streak to start the 2026 season, collecting their first win in the Tony Vitello era after defeating the San Diego Padres , 3-2 , on March 30.

    Under Vitello — joined the Giants as manager in October 2025 — San Francisco had dropped all three of its games in the season-opening series against the New York Yankees . The Giants went on the road to face the Padres, their NL West divisional rivals, where they got their first victory of the season.

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    Harrison Bader opened the scoring in the third inning with a 408-foot bomb over left field. The Giants added a couple of runs in the fourth inning by methodically filling the bases, something they hardly did in their series against the Yankees.

    San Francisco went up 3-0 in the fourth inning. Patrick Bailey singled to left, which allowed Matt Chapman to cross home plate, as Jung Hoo Lee went to second. Another run shortly followed after Casey Schmitt hit an RBI single to left field that allowed Lee to score.

    "The first one's huge," Bader told NBC Sports Bay Area. "Just a matter of going out there and, you know, continuing to process, you know, throwing strikes, taking care of the baseball, getting your swing off as a hitter. You do that, I think good thing happens in the lineup. It felt good to kind of get that off out of the way. Just a good team win."

    Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia Phillies
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    Citizens Bank Park — Philadelphia Phillies

    San Diego finally got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the ninth inning, when Jackson Merrill hit a two-run home run to right field that scored Jake Cronenworth . However, the Giants got the next batter, Xander Bogaerts , to ground out to shortstop to end the game.

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    Vitello was doused in beer to celebrate the first major-league win of his career.

    "Yeah, it's hard to comprehend, because I got the same disease as every other coach. You're kind of you want the proper guys to get their props. That got it done tonight, which really it was a lot of guys, especially if you include defense," Vitello told reporters after the game.

    He added: "Also look ahead in the next game, is an opportunity to win a series down here and continue things in the right direction. So probably soak in getting back to the hotel. But yeah, pretty special looking around the room, whether it's in the office, in the dugout or in the lock, some of these guys have been slower to come out of their shell with me, but it's little moments like that, or breaking camp or opening day where I think, you know, the bond grows a little bit, which, you know, at the end of the day, we want to be a strong unit right now."

    Vitello believes that the team will continue grow as a unit as the season wears on. The Giants face the Padres again on March 31 at Petco Park, with first pitch scheduled for 9:40 p.m. ET.

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    This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Giants get first win of Tony Vitello era vs. San Diego Padres

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