It was a beautiful night for a pitcher's duel at Petco Park Thursday evening, and boy did they have one. The San Francisco Giants' Madison Bumgarner and San Diego Padres Aaron Harang duked it out, followed by their respective bullpens all the way to extra innings. But it was the Black and Orange that would ultimately reign supreme, scoring five runs in the twelfth inning to top the Pads 6-2.
Madison Bumgarner began the game and battled through six innings of one run ball, allowing seven hits, no walks, and four strikeouts. All the while the Giants offense struggled, putting up eight straight goose eggs on the scoreboard while Ramon Ramirez and Sergio Romo kept the Padres scoreless thru the ninth inning. And with All-Star Heath Bell in for the save in the bottom of the ninth, Aubrey Huff hooked a bomb around the right field foul pole, his team high ninth of the year, tying the game at one a piece, sending the game into extra innings.
The bullpens remained strong until the Padres Luke Gregerson's (L 2-3) struggles in the twelfth inning loaded the bases with no outs, and eventually was responsible for five runs after an RBI walk to Mike Fontenot, then three straight singles from Pablo Sandoval, Nate Schierholtz, and Aubrey Huff. But in true Padres form they battled back to load the bases in the bottom of the 12th against Santiago Casilla (W 2-1), leading skipper Bruce Bochy to call on Brian Wilson. The bearded savior will complete the last two outs of the innings with only one walk, successfully converting his 27th save of the season.
Pablo Sandoval extended his historic hitting streak to 22 straight games with his 2-5 night, while Eli Whiteside shined going 3-4 with a run scored. Aubrey Huff's game tying homer will hopefully cap off the beginning of a hot streak for the struggling first baseman, with his 2-6 night boosting his batting average to .238 on the year.
With the win the Giants move to 53-40 on the year. Full box score can be found here.
The Giants will have All-Star Tim Lincecum (7-7 3.06 ERA) on the mound Friday night down in San Diego to face Dustin Moseley (2-8 3.21 ERA) for the Padres. First pitch is set for 7:05 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
For more on the Black and Orange, head on over to McCovey Chronicles.