It was a balmy night at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick this evening as the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks squared off for some Cactus League action under the lights. And after a back-and-forth battle between these teams, it was the Giants who got the last laugh with a 9th inning RBI double by Travis Ishikawa for the 5-4 win.
Madison Bumgarner struggled early with his command tonight but calmed down over the course of his outing. Bummy went 4 full innings allowing 4 hits, 2 runs, 2 walks, and 6 strikeouts. His two earned runs came from giving up two homers in the first inning, but held the D’Backs scoreless for his other 3 innings of work. Guillermo Mota, Jeremy Affeldt, and Santiago Casilla pitched the middle innings, allowing only a single run over their three innings of combined work, while Sergio Romo gave up a 2 strike 2 out homer in the bottom of the 8th to tie the game at 4-4. Felix Romero closed the D’Backs out in the 9th.
As for the Giants offense it wasn’t as potent as it had been recently, but still got some good production from some key players. Freddy Sanchez blasted a homer to right center field in the top of the 3rd, Andres Torres hit a grounder that scored Cody, Ross in the 5th followed by a two run homer by Aubrey Huff (his 3rd of Spring Training). But it was Travis Ishikawa who was tonight’s hero in the clutch, breaking up the tie in the top of the 9th with a two out, full count double that scored Emanuel Burriss. The G-Men just love to leave their fans on the edge of their seats, don’t they?
PANDA WATCH: Pablo went 0-4 leaving 3 on base, but once again, he looked good doing so.
The Giants will continue their Spring Training campaign tomorrow as they face the Chicago White Sox at Camelback Ranch in Glendale, Arizona. First pitch is set for 1:05 and will be televised on the MLB Network (hooray!) with Tim Lincecum starting for the Giants and Mark Buehrle starting for the White Sox.