The San Francisco Giants fell victim to a walk-off home run by the hands of the San Diego Padres on Tuesday night, and found themselves in another back-and-forth battle with the Friars on Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park. But thanks to some timely hitting and gutsy outings from a banged up bullpen the Black and Orange hung tough for the 6-5 victory.
San Francisco jumped on Clayton Richard early in the game, using a Melky Cabrera ground rule double, Buster Posey RBI single and passed ball from the Padres to take the early 3-0 lead. San Diego quickly got two runs back with a pair of extra base hits from Chase Headley and Jesus Guzman in the bottom of the frame.
Both teams remained scoreless until Gregor Blanco and Cameron Maybin exchanged a pair of solo home runs in the fifth inning. That broke a streak of 289 at bats without a homer for the Giants, with Blacno hitting the last one back at AT&T as well.
A Logan Forsythe error plated a pair of Giants in the sixth to give San Francisco a 6-3 cushion, which meant that was enough for Madison Bumgarner today. He earned his seventh win of the year after giving up four runs on seven hits with four walks and four strikeouts on 101 pitches.
Everth Cabrera and Chase Headley each knocked in a run for San Diego to make it 6-5 heading into the final innings. Clay Hensley and Javier Lopez held serve for the Giants until the ninth, when a hobbled Sergio Romo put on a knee brace and threw a perfect 1-2-3 ninth inning for his third save of the year.
The Giants complete their series in San Diego on Thursday as Matt Cain takes the bump to face newly acquired Padre Jason Marquis in his first start of the year. First pitch is set for 12:45 p.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
For more on the Giants please make sure to check out McCovey Chronicles. For the Padres side of the street head on over to Gaslamp Ball.
