© Ed Szczepanski-USA TODAY Sports
SAN FRANCISCO — At some point, Arizona Diamondbacks first baseman Paul Goldschmidt would bust out of a putrid early-season slump. It should be no surprise he chose to do so at the expense of the Giants, in AT&T Park, one of his favorite feasting spots.
Goldschmidt, who went 2-4 with three RBI, was the difference in Arizona’s 7-3 victory Wednesday afternoon. With Giants lefty Andrew Suarez making his major league debut, Goldschmidt broke a 0-0 tie in the fourth inning with a two-run homer that sailed well beyond the center field fence.
Sound familiar?
On Monday, Goldschmidt tripled to right-center to give Arizona a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. On Tuesday, with Giants closer Hunter Strickland one out away from securing a win, Goldschmidt sent a fastball high into the left field bleachers to tie the game.
All series long, he lessened Arizona’s deficits and extended its leads. Goldschmidt entered the Giants series batting .100 with no homers and two RBI in nine games. Three games later, he is hitting .190 with two homers and seven RBI.
Goldschmidt, who has finished in the top-3 for National League MVP voting three different times, continued his long line of success in this ballpark. He has hit .316 with 11 homers and 46 RBI in 62 career games in San Francisco.
When the Giants reflect on this series, they will identify Goldschmidt as the biggest reason why Arizona won two out of three games.
But Arizona found additional contributors Wednesday afternoon. Catcher John Ryan Murphy’s homer in the fifth inning extended the Diamondbacks’ lead to 3-0. The Giants quickly responded, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to tie the score. But Goldschmidt knocked in an RBI double in the sixth inning, and Murphy doubled off the wall to score another Arizona run in the seventh inning. The Diamondbacks tacked on two more runs, making the score 7-3, which was ultimately too much for the Giants to overcome.
Until Goldschmidt’s fourth-inning homer, Suarez’s first MLB start went as well as he could have hoped. He retired the first 10 Arizona batters. In 5.1 innings pitched, he struck out seven batters, walked none, and executed strikes on 62 of his 83 pitches.
But those two home run swings — via Goldschmidt and Murphy —ruined an otherwise solid debut.
Wednesday was the second consecutive game the Giants started debuting pitchers, the first time the Giants have done so in the past 42 years. Tyler Beede, the Giants 2014 first-round draft pick, allowed two earned runs on three strikeouts and five walks in four innings Tuesday. Suarez and Beede are short-term solutions as the Giants try to overcome the attrition among the starting pitching staff.
After seven straight home games, the Giants will travel to San Diego to begin a three-game series Thursday, kicking off a 10-game road trip.
