By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-Tim Hudson made his first appearance as a member of the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park one that the veteran right-hander will not soon forget.

Hudson pitched eight innings, allowing three runs (two earned), not a walking and striking out four and the Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 7-3 before a sellout crowd of 42,166 on Opening Day at AT&T Park.

Brandon Belt continued his torrid pace of home runs, as he hit his fifth home run of the season, a two-run blast off of Diamondbacks starter Trevor Cahill in the bottom of the first inning.

Belt is the first Giants player to hit five home runs in the first eight games since Jose Cruz, Jr., back during the 2003 season, the year that the Giants went wire-to-wire to win the National League West.

It was a tough day for Cahill, as he lasted just 3.2 innings, giving up five runs on eight hits and saw his record fall to 0-3 on the season.

Another Giants player made his AT&T Park debut, and did not disappoint the sellout crowd, as Michael Morse went 2-for-3 with two runs batted in for the now 6-2 Giants.

Morse hit a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning that blew the close game wide open, and then added a two-out double in the bottom of the fifth inning and then was pinch ran for by Gregor Blanco.

Brandon Crawford hit a sharp single to right field that scored Hunter Pence, and Blanco avoided the Miguel Montero tag to give the Giants their sixth and seventh runs of the afternoon.

This was the fourth season opener for the Diamondbacks, who opened the season against the Los Angeles Dodgers in Sydney, at Chase Field against the Giants, this past Friday against the Colorado Rockies at Coors Field and today versus the Giants.

Unfortunately, it was not a good thing for the Diamondbacks, as they went 0-4 in those home openers and saw their record drop to 2-8 on the season.

Brandon Hicks made his first start as a member of the Giants at second base, but committed a throwing error in the top of the second inning that allowed Martin Prado score from third base.

NOTES: This was the sixth straight win on Opening Day at AT&T Park, and improve to 12-3 in the 15 years since the park on opened on April 11, 2000.

Game time temperature was 73 degrees, the warmest for a Giants home opener since the team moved to the West Coast back in 1958.

Tim Lincecum will make his 2014 AT&T Park debut on Wednesday night, while the Diamondbacks will send Bronson Arroyo to the hill.

PAC-12 Comissioneer Larry Scott and Miles Scott, better known as the SFBatkid threw out the ceremonial first pitches.