SAN FRANCISCO — Daniel Susac, owner of an .857 average as a major leaguer, slid into third base with a two-run triple and dusted himself off.
It was his third hit Tuesday night. It was his sixth hit in seven at-bats spanning his two major league games in which he had a plate appearance. It was so much helium to be historic.
Susac became the first Giant since Willie McCovey in 1959 to start his career with four hits in four at-bats when he elevated an ankle-high sinker from Philadelphia Phillies ace Cristopher Sanchez for a single in the second inning. Then he became the first Giant in the modern era to debut 5 for 5 when he singled again in the fifth.
A fly out in the sixth inning ended the most unsustainable form of perfection imaginable. But Susac added to his rookie legend in the eighth, shooting a drive down the right field line against right-hander Orion Kerkering and racing three-quarters of the way home to punctuate the Giants’ 6-0 victory.
2-run triple for Daniel Susac!
He’s 6-for-7 to start his MLB career 😳 pic.twitter.com/3TFMW0UQvP
— MLB (@MLB) April 8, 2026
The Giants dugout was a smiling, rail-slapping scene. So was Section 119, where the Susac contingent jostled their red-cheeked toddlers and danced in the aisles. The crowd got louder and louder with each of the three hits and cheered the triple as if treated to a too-good-to-be-true encore.
The only person in the ballpark who didn’t appear to be loose and laughing was Susac, who had things like secondary leads and delivery times to worry about. He had one more inning to catch, too. Even a half-hour after the Giants snapped out of their funk with a satisfying victory, and Susac had a moment to reflect on the wildly successful start to his big league career, there wasn’t a hint of gee-whiz wonder in his postgame comments.
He didn’t register much of a reaction when told that he nearly matched the major league record of six hits in six at-bats to start a career, which was accomplished by Boston Red Sox outfielder Ted Cox in 1977 — a distinction that remains fondly recalled across New England to this day. Susac is the only other major league player in the expansion era (beginning in 1969) to begin his career 5 for 5.
“That’s just kind of always been my personality, just kind of an older soul,” said Susac, who was 3 for 3 with a walk in his first major league start Thursday against the New York Mets. “So it’s on to the next. Biggest thing today was Robbie Ray. He was so good, just impressive. It’s always great to see him execute his plan.”
As noble as that might sound, it’s not every day that a Giants player accomplishes something that hasn’t been done since McCovey, whose 4-for-4 start to his career against future Hall of Famer Robin Roberts, and the promise that his debut inspired, is part of the franchise’s core canon. Susac’s debut also might have rekindled memories of another irrepressible young catcher’s first impression, when Buster Posey (who had debuted in September 2009), got promoted for good on May 29, 2010, and rapped out RBI singles in three of his first four at-bats.
Posey was just as stoic that day, too — up to the moment when he got that third hit, first base coach Roberto Kelly leaned over and said, “It’s that easy, huh?”
“It was great. It was fun. It’s humbling,” a 23-year-old Posey said that night, when asked about the crowd’s embrace. “That’s the time I have to slow myself down because it can get you going a little bit.”
Susac, after two games any rookie could only dream about, did not need to slow himself down. For all that helium, he didn’t give off the notion that his head was in the clouds.
“My whole goal this offseason was just to be consistent with everything I do every day,” Susac said. “If I’m in the lineup, I’ll play as hard as I can, and if not, keep staying consistent with my practice and work. So whenever my name is called, I’m ready.”
Daniel Susac started his career 5-for-5 and is hitting .857 on the season. (Ed Szczepanski / Imagn Images)
The Giants looked far more ready and able than the team that got off to a 3-8 start and ranked last in the major leagues with 2.73 runs per game. They figured to have a difficult matchup against Sanchez, a left-hander and runner-up for the NL Cy Young Award last season who puts press boxes on no-hitter watch from the first pitch of the night.
So naturally, the Giants piled up an 11-hit snowdrift before chasing him in the sixth inning. Leadoff hitter Willy Adames doubled in his first two at-bats. Matt Chapman made the Phillies pay for an error with an RBI double in the fifth. There were missed opportunities in the early innings — a double-play grounder ended a potential rally in the second inning and another fizzled in the third when Adames was thrown out trying to score on Matt Chapman’s single — but the hits kept coming.
Sanchez had given up 11 hits in a start just once — he had a 12-hit outing in 2024 against Arizona — and what made the Giants’ attack most impressive is that eight of their hits came in two-strike counts. Last year, Sanchez held hitters to a .130 average in at-bats that got to two strikes.
Nobody could appreciate the difficulty of the assignment more than Giants second baseman Luis Arraez. The three-time batting champion entered the game with an 0-for-12 career record against Sanchez — tied with Clayton Kershaw for the most at-bats against any pitcher without collecting a hit. It was an 0-for-14 streak after Arraez managed a tapper in front of the plate that scored Adames in the first inning and another comebacker that advanced a runner in the third.
It was sweet redemption in the fifth when Arraez took a lunging swing at a slider away and poked it to center field for an RBI single.
“I got one!” said Arraez, beaming. “He’s nasty, man. I like to compete but he’s one of the best lefties I’m going to face. I feel I have to do something special. He didn’t miss the spot. He just threw a slider to the corner and I hit it to the middle. That’s what I’m looking for.”
That’s what everyone in the lineup was looking to do.
“Try to hit it to the middle,” Arraez said. “We put in the work together and we tried to put the ball in play and compete. Do the little things, put the ball in play and see what happens.”
For last year’s feast-or-famine lineup, the home run dictated whether their bellies would be full. When the Giants weren’t hitting them, they weren’t scoring. So Tuesday night’s 11-hit performance against Sanchez might be a good sign that they’ll be better equipped to win on nights when they don’t set off the steam cannons.
Susac’s hits? They came on an 0-2 sinker, a 3-2 sinker and a 2-2 fastball down the middle. All two-strike hits. That’s a big change for a young hitter and 2022 first-round pick whose proclivity for strikeouts in the minor leagues compelled the A’s to leave him unprotected from the Rule 5 draft this past December.
“A lot of it has to do with the offseason changes I made,” said Susac, who worked with two former Giants — his brother, Andrew, and outfielder Zach Green, who had an eight-game cameo in 2019 — to refine his approach over the winter. “We were really talking about how, growing up, my strength was the opposite side of the field, and getting back to that. Pull the ball when I get thrown in there, but taking what they give me as well.
“It’s always nice to know how you stack up against some of the best in the game. Sanchez is a really good pitcher, and to be able to work some good at bats off him, it’s obviously a good conference boost.”
Daniel Susac is putting up Willie McCovey numbers 🤯 pic.twitter.com/fyUtP98k8o
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 8, 2026
Susac’s receiving skills also continued to impress. He won’t steal strikes like two-time Gold Glove winner Patrick Bailey, but Ray considers the rookie an asset.
“He’s great behind the plate. He’s great at the plate. It’s been really fun to watch him,” said Ray, who allowed just one runner into scoring position before he issued a pair of walks in the seventh that right-hander Ryan Walker stranded. “I enjoy throwing to him. And obviously, what he’s contributing with his at-bats is huge for us.
“We had a game plan going into it. We stuck to it. There were a few things that we talked about in between innings and he was fully on board. He bought in and you saw what happened.”
It might come across as a bit cruel to point it out, but Susac has more hits in two starts that Bailey does in 10 (4 for 31, .129 slugging percentage). It’s starting to seem automatic that Susac should start against left-handers and, if versatile Jesús Rodríguez hits his way up from Triple-A Sacramento, then there would be even more chances to use his bat off the bench.
Giants manager Tony Vitello said Susac already earned himself some leeway with his smashing debut Thursday against the Mets. So following up with a 3-for-4 performance against the Phillies won’t change that direction.
“It’ll be good for both those guys,” Vitello said. “I think they’ve got a good friendship and also a good working relationship. … You’ll be seeing plenty of both guys as the season goes on.”
Maybe next time Susac is in the lineup, his brother Matt will be in the stands to watch — along with Matt’s 2-year-old, tousled-haired son, Chuck, who became an internet sensation when he didn’t appreciate getting tossed about while his dad celebrated Daniel’s three-hit debut start against the Mets.
Maybe Chuck is an old soul, too.
“They’re going nuts up there,” Ray said. “I know his family’s going crazy. It’s really cool for them to be able to experience this and to watch them do that.”