On Friday night, the San Francisco Giants opened up a home stand and received a tremendous spot start from the debuting Eric Hacker, who was called up when the Giants found themselves a starter short following Monday's doubleheader against the New York Mets. The Giants found themselves in prime 2011 form against their old nemesis the San Diego Padres and dropped the series opener by a final score of 5-3.
The Padres scored in the top of the first, but the Giants tied things up right away on a leadoff home run by Angel Pagan in the bottom of the frame. Hacker settled down and coasting through the next couple of innings, but four straight one-out singles in the top of the fourth inning put the Pads ahead 3-1.
The Giants closed the gap to 3-2 in the bottom of the fifth on a Buster Posey RBI double, but Jeremy Affeldt would come on in relief of Hacker in the seventh and promptly give up two runs, one on an RBI single and one on a wild pitch.
Buster Posey led off the bottom of the eighth with a solo shot to left-center, but the damage had already been done. Posey and Pagan each had a two-hit game and drove in all three San Francisco runs.
Besides Posey and Pagan, however, Hacker was the amazing silver lining of the game. He went six innings and allowed three runs on eight hits and two walks, striking out seven batters along the way. He looked sharp and confident. Hacker may now be poised above Eric Surkamp on the starter depth chart should anyone -- god forbid -- go down with an injury.
Pablo Sandoval went 1-for-4, meaning he has now extended his hitting streak to 20 straight games to begin the season.
For more on the San Francisco Giants, please check out McCovey Chronicles. For the Padres side of things, head on over to Gaslamp Ball.
