Giants 6, Twins 2: Pablo Sandoval belted a three-run homer and Brandon Hicks added a solo blast as host San Francisco won the opener of a three-game series.

Tim Lincecum (4-3) battled through six walks over six innings and two relievers bridged the gap to Jean Machi, who recorded the final five outs for his second save. Angel Pagan contributed two hits and Hicks drove in two runs for the Giants, who improved to 12-4 in series openers.

Sandoval crushed his third home run in his last five games with a three-run shot in the first inning off Kyle Gibson (4-4), who allowed five runs over five frames. Minnesota, which was looking to move three games over .500 for the first time since the end of the 2010 season, went 0-for-8 with runners in scoring position and left 10 men on base.

The Twins cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third when Joe Mauer tripled in a run and scored on Chris Parmelee’s groundout, but the Giants answered with a run in the bottom half and moved ahead 5-2 on Hicks’ two-out solo homer in the fourth. Minnesota had two runners on with one out in the eighth before Machi induced an inning-ending double-play grounder from pinch-hitter Josmil Pinto.

Brian Dozier and Mauer had two hits apiece for the Twins, who lost for the fourth time in their last 12 games. Gibson, who ended a four-start winless streak in his last start, saw his ERA in five starts outside of Target Field climb to 7.77.

GAME NOTEBOOK: The Twins have switched their scheduled starters for the weekend, manager Ron Gardenhire announced. RHP Samuel Deduno will now start Saturday and RHP Ricky Nolasco will get the nod for Sunday’s series finale. … Giants RF Hunter Pence went 1-for-4 to extend his hitting streak to 10 games. … Lincecum, who yielded two runs over six frames, threw just 57 of his 112 pitches for strikes and came within one walk of matching his career high of seven.