Walkoff City!!!! pic.twitter.com/nladosh8G4
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) May 1, 2018
SAN FRANCISCO — The Giants bookended their 6-5 walkoff win against the San Diego Padres with two three-run innings. San Francisco jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning. San Diego gradually scored five runs to take a 5-3 lead. In dramatic fashion, the Giants rallied to a three-run ninth inning to win their seventh game in the past nine contests.
With two outs and runners on first and second, Evan Longoria blooped a single into left field, scoring outfielder Austin Slater and cutting the San Diego to 5-4. Brandon Belt was next up with runners on first and third. He walked to load the bases. Next up was catcher Nick Hundley. After working the count to 1-0, he punched a single into center field, scoring the final two runs to give the Giants a dramatic 6-5 win.
Amid two fruitful innings were seven innings of zero runs. It didn’t matter.
A three-run inning was the ideal cushion for Giants pitcher Jeff Samardzija to sit on as he tried to bounce back from a poor outing last Wednesday. San Francisco, which ranks 22nd in the league in first-inning run output, produced three hits from the first three batters against the visiting San Diego Padres Monday night. Andrew McCutchen tripled, Buster Posey doubled, and Austin Jackson singled, giving the Giants a 3-0 lead early.
But the Padres gradually manufactured runs, adding one in the fourth inning and another in the fifth, to cut the lead. Longoria, a three-time Gold Glover, let a hard-hit ground ball skip through his legs in the sixth inning. The error prompted a three-run barrage to give the Padres a 5-3 lead.
The Giants have continued the hottest stretch of their season, winning five of seven at home and seven of the past nine.
Their season has been riddled with injuries, deeming a 15-14 start as encouraging. The injury bug first swept through the top of the starting pitching staff. More recently, San Francisco’s position players have found the disabled list, including second baseman Joe Panik, who will miss about six weeks. Outfielders Mac Williamson and Hunter Pence continue to recover from injuries that have sent them to the 10-day disabled list and seven-day concussion list.
The Giants have used effective pitching and timely hitting to weather the storm. Monday night’s win snapped a three-game losing streak to the division-worst Padres.
Samardzija allowed two earned runs in five innings Monday night, an encouraging performance after he was shelled for eight hits and six runs in 3.2 innings pitched last Wednesday.
The Giants will host the Padres two more games before taking a 10-game road trip.