Patrick Bailey hits walk-off home run, Giants beat Pirates 3-0

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Patrick Bailey hit a walk-off three-run homer, Kyle Harrison pitched six shutout innings and the San Francisco Giants beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 3-0 on Friday.

The game was scoreless until the ninth, when Michael Conforto walked and Matt Chapman singled to begin the inning off reliever David Bednar (1-2). Bailey then drilled a homer to right field, his second-career walk-off home run. The Giants catcher, off to a hot start this season, said he was looking for a fastball on the pitch and feels as if his swing is in a much better spot compared to this time last year.

“One thing this year I tried to build was just my confidence at the plate," Bailey said. “I felt like I proved to myself last year that I could do it at this level, even with the struggles at the end. So that was my biggest thing this year was just going up confident every time — no matter what.”

And how does he maintain that confidence?

“Keep hitting,” Bailey responded.

Both starters, Harrison and Pittsburgh’s Quinn Priester, pitched six innings. Harrison struck out seven and gave up five hits. He pitched in and out of jams all night, noting that he gets a little more juice walking off the mound escaping a potential run-scoring situation.

“Compete mode, as we call it,” Harrison said.

He added that “it makes you want to come out there and get a clean next inning.” Manager Bob Melvin thought Harrison improved as the game went along, his fastball velocity climbing to 94 mph after dipping earlier in the outing.

“They were getting some decent swings on him in the first couple of innings, and then after that not at all,” Melvin said.

Priester, making his second start of the season after being called up last week to fill the spot of the injured Marco Gonzales, allowed three hits and struck out six in the best start so far of his young career. He struggled in his season debut last Friday in an 8-1 loss at Boston.

Pittsburgh had the bases loaded in both the seventh and ninth innings, but could not score. Brian Reynolds hit into a double play against Giants closer Camilo Doval (2-0) with the bases full and one out in the ninth.

The Pirates, beginning a six-game Bay Area trip against both the Giants and Oakland Athletics, started the season 11-5 but have lost nine of their 11 games to dip below .500 for the first time.

Joey Bart returned to San Francisco for the first time since the Giants traded him to the Pirates earlier this month. The Giants’ former top prospect, who is off to a hot start with Pittsburgh, said he is enjoying his new club so far and was looking forward to catching up with his former teammates.

Bart entered the game in the ninth as a defensive replacement.

“I’m enjoying it," Bart said before the game, of his new team. “It’s been a lot of fun. Obviously transitions, it’s good but it’s hard to get caught up. So that’s what I’ve been doing, just trying to get caught up with everybody.”

TRAINER'S ROOM

Pirates: Shortstop Oneil Cruz tweaked his ankle chasing a fly ball in the outfield and then sliding into third in the ninth inning. Pirates manager Derek Shelton said they will monitor Cruz, who is “banged up a little bit.”

Giants: RHP Alex Cobb (hip/elbow/shoulder) who has yet to pitch this season after undergoing hip surgery last fall, has been held back from throwing with soreness in his right shoulder. … Second baseman Thairo Estrada (left hamstring) was not in the lineup, but took ground balls and could start on Saturday, according to manager Bob Melvin.

UP NEXT

RHP Jordan Hicks (2-0, 1.61 ERA) was set to pitch for the Giants in the second game of the series against LHP Martín Pérez (1-1, 3.45 ERA) .

AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB

San Francisco Giants' Tyler Fitzgerald walks to the dugout after striking out during the fifth inning of the team's baseball game against the Pittsburgh Pirates, Friday, April 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Andrew McCutchen, right, is hit by a pitch during the seventh inning of the team's baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Friday, April 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Pittsburgh Pirates' Bryan Reynolds strikes out with the bases loaded during the seventh inning of the team's baseball game against the San Francisco Giants, Friday, April 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Aroldis Chapman throws to a San Francisco Giants batter during the eighth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

San Francisco Giants pitcher Camilo Doval throws to a Pittsburgh Pirates batter during the ninth inning of a baseball game Friday, April 26, 2024, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Godofredo A. Vásquez)

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — A commercial truck driver who was acquitted of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire testified at a hearing Wednesday on his request to reinstate his suspended license, while a lawyer for the state said he still played a role in the 2019 crash.

A jury in 2022 found Volodymyr Zhukovskyy not guilty of multiple manslaughter and negligent homicide counts stemming from the collision in Randolph that killed seven members of the Jarheads Motorcycle Club, an organization of Marine Corps veterans and their spouses in New England.

Zhukovskyy, who came to the U.S. as a child from Ukraine and had permanent residency status, had his Massachusetts license automatically suspended in New Hampshire after his arrest following the June 21, 2019, crash.

Based on his interviews with police at the time, “I thought I was the one that caused the accident,” Zhukovskyy, 28, testified at a four-hour administrative hearing in Concord in which he appeared via video. “I was like in a bubble with all the pressure.”

Prosecutors argued that Zhukovskyy — who had taken heroin, fentanyl and cocaine the day of the crash — repeatedly swerved back and forth before the collision and told police he caused it. But a judge dismissed eight impairment charges and his attorneys said the lead biker was drunk and not looking where he was going when he lost control of his motorcycle and slid in front of Zhukovskyy’s truck, which was pulling an empty flatbed trailer.

Zhukovskyy’s trial lawyers also said there was no evidence he was impaired at the time of the crash and that police did not make any observations in the hours afterward suggesting he was.

Restoration of Zhukovskky’s license would depend on whether hearings officer Ryan McFarland decides Zhukovskyy drove “in an unlawful and reckless manner" that “materially contributed” to the accident, according to state law. McFarland took the case under advisement after the hearing. If he finds in favor of the state, Zhukovskyy’s license could remain suspended for up to seven years.

One former Jarheads member injured in the crash spoke out against restoring the license.

“You're all in jeopardy of this guy driving again,” said Manny Ribeiro, speaking with reporters after Wednesday's hearing. “I know what happened that day. I was there.”

The manslaughter acquittal at the time drew strong comments from Gov. Chris Sununu, who said the seven bikers “did not receive justice,” and from Attorney General John Formella, who said he believed the state proved its case.

Zhukovskyy said at Wednesday's hearing he was driving around a crest on an east-west highway, saw a motorcycle coming in his direction, and applied his brakes.

“He responded in seconds,” his attorney Earle Wingate III, said. “He did not cause the crash.”

But David Hilts, an attorney for the state Department of Safety, challenged that account, based on expert reports. He said descriptions of where the tires were at the time showed Zhukovskyy didn't see the motorcycle in advance.

“The impact happened. He jams on his breaks,” Hilts said.

Hilts questioned Zhukovskyy extensively about his drug use based on the police interviews. The attorney said in his closing statement that Zhukovskyy did everything possible to not answer his questions about drug use and impairment.

Hilts also brought up prior accidents Zhukovskyy was involved in, including one 18 days before the Randolph crash. He said both Zhukovskyy and the lead biker, Albert “Woody” Mazza Jr., materially contributed to the crash. Mazza, one of the seven who died, had a blood-alcohol level of 0.135%, well above the legal limit of 0.08%, according to his autopsy report.

At the time, Zhukovskyy’s license should have been revoked because he had been arrested in Connecticut on a drunken driving charge in May 2019. Connecticut officials alerted the Massachusetts Registry of Motor Vehicles, but Zhukovskyy’s license wasn’t suspended due to a backlog of out-of-state notifications about driving offenses. The Connecticut case is pending.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement detained Zhukovskyy after the 2022 verdict, citing previous convictions of drug possession, driving with a suspended license, furnishing false information and larceny. Zhukovskyy was taken from a New Hampshire county jail to a federal detention facility.

Zhukovskyy’s immigration attorney requested asylum for his client. In February 2023, a judge ordered Zhukovskyy’s deportation. But it’s unclear under how he could be sent to a country at war with Russia. The U.S. has paused repatriation flights to Ukraine and authorized Temporary Protected Status for qualified Ukrainians.

FILE - Volodymyr Zhukovskyy looks back at the gallery before closing statements at his trial at Coos County Superior Court, in Lancaster, N.H., Aug. 9, 2022. Zhukovskyy, a commercial truck driver from Ukraine who was acquitted in 2022 of causing the deaths of seven motorcyclists in New Hampshire, testified remotely at an administrative hearing in Concord, N.H, Wednesday, May 8, 2024, to lift a state suspension on his driver's license. (David Lane/Union Leader via AP, Pool, File)