PHILADELPHIA — After hitting his fourth homer last weekend and briefly taking the lead in the Joe Panik-Matt Duffy Home Run Race of 2015, Panik downplayed the competition.
“This isn’t exactly McGwire-Sosa,” he said, smiling.
For the Giants, it’s much better.
Bruce Bochy spent much of his spring answering questions about how he would make up for the power that walked out the door with Pablo Sandoval and Michael Morse. Panik and Duffy have been a surprising solution. The two have four homers apiece after Duffy’s opposite-field blast that was one of three homers in Friday’s 5-4 win over the Phillies and are on pace for 24 combined homers, which would be just 12 off the total from the highly-compensated Sandoval-Morse duo last season.