SAN FRANCISCO — The San Francisco Giants hosted a number of their iconic players on Tuesday afternoon to celebrate the home opener; including Willie Mays, Willie McCovey, and Barry Bonds. A surprise appearance by Brian Wilson, who jogged through center field in full uniform to throw out the first pitch, highlighted the pregame ceremony.
Yet, all those former greats could do was watch from the stands as the Seattle Mariners spoiled the opening game at AT&T Park, with a 6-4 victory over the Giants. Joe Panik and Evan Longoria both hit home runs, but starter Ty Blach struggled to find success similar to that he had on opening day.
After falling behind 4-0 early, Panik stepped up to the plate in the fourth inning and worked a 2-1 count on Seattle’s starting pitcher Marco Gonzales. The fourth pitch of his at-bat sailed over Levi’s Landing and touched down in McCovey Cove for the 76th splash hit in AT&T Park history.
He's done it again. #SFGOpeningDay pic.twitter.com/ZYozPpTmSg
— San Francisco Giants (@SFGiants) April 3, 2018
Not only was it Panik’s third home run of the season, it was also Giants’ third run of the season. Three of San Francisco’s six runs scored this season have been off the bat of Panik.
Two innings later, Evan Longoria knocked Gonzales from the game with a two-run homer in the seventh inning, his first hit as a Giant. His home run ended the longest hitless streak of his career at 0-for-17. Previously, he’d been held 0-for-12 last season.
First hit as a Giant! And. It. Is. Outta HERE! pic.twitter.com/pC8VajspH3
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) April 3, 2018
However, their long balls weren’t enough to comeback from Blach’s tough outing.
Before the first out of the opening inning, the Mariners tagged Blach with four runs. With the bases loaded, Mitch Haniger, Kyle Seager (whose brother Blach held hitless on opening day) and Ryon Healy hit consecutive RBI singles.
It took Blach 34 pitches to get out of the first. He recovered to allow only three hits through the next three innings, but Blach was pulled from the game shortly after Robinson Canó put the Mariners ahead 5-1 with a double. Canó was brought home on a sacrifice fly after Blach was relieved by Reyes Moronta.
All told, Blach allowed six runs off 10 hits and two walks through 4.1 innings, and was 1-1 at the plate with a single.
The Giants’ lineup was full of home-opener regulars, including Buster Posey, Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, and Hunter Pence.
However, it didn’t feature Brandon Belt.
Posey started a first base for his eighth consecutive home-opening start with Nick Hundley starting his first game of the season behind the plate. Belt is fully healthy, but Bruce Bochy wanted to get Hundley, along with Pablo Sandoval in the lineup.
“I just wanted to keep these guys involved,” Bochy said. “It’s been a while since Nick has had a start.”
The Giants put those in AT&T Park on the edge of their seats in the eighth inning, but ultimately came up short.
Gregor Blanco leadoff the inning with a double that was originally called foul, but quickly overturned. Blanco eventually came home on a sacrifice fly from Austin Jackson. However, Posey, the go-ahead run, grounded out with two men on the extinguish the threat.
It had been a while since Gonzales had pitched at AT&T Park, and Tuesday’s outing went much better than the last time he took the mound in San Francisco.
Gonzales’ last appearance at AT&T Park was in the sixth inning of Game 4 in the 2014 NCLS. As he threw his warmup pitches, the St. Louis Cardinals were leading 4-3 and stood 12 outs away from evening the series.
Needless to say, it didn’t go as Gonzales planned.
After the first two batters reached base, the Giants scored three runs off Gonzales to take a 6-4 the lead. Joe Panik, who hit second in Tuesday’s lineup, tied the game with an RBI groundout and Buster Posey, who batted cleanup in the home opener, singled in the final run of the game.
As each fan packed into AT&T Park on Tuesday fondly remembers, Travis Ishikawa’s walk off home run sent the Giants to the World Series, where they won their most recent championship.
However, Gonzales flipped the script on Tuesday, as he held the Giants to six hits and three runs over 6.1 innings of work.
Johnny Cueto is set to start against Felix Hernandez in the series finale on Wednesday at 4:15 PM.
Keaton Moore covers the Giants for KNBR.com. Follow Keaton on Twitter at @KeatonAMoore.