By Jeremy Harness

 

SAN FRANCISCO – Tim Hudson gave Bay Area fans at least one thing to cheer about Wednesday night.

 

While the San Jose Sharks were completing their NHL playoff meltdown by blowing a 3-0 series lead and falling in Game 7 at home to the Los Angeles Kings, Hudson masterfully guided the Giants to a 3-2 win over the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.

 

Hudson had one heck of a first month for the Giants, and he capped it off with one of his better performances in stifling the Padres. The 38-year-old righty gave up only five hits and did not walk anyone while striking out six.

 

He was on his way to a complete game, as he just needed one more strike to finish the thing off. However, he left a fastball in the heart of the plate, and Yasmani Grandal deposited it into McCovey Cove to narrow the Giants’ lead to just one.

 

Giants skipper Bruce Bochy took no more chances and went to closer Sergio Romo, who got Chris Denorfia to ground out and give Hudson (4-1) the win.

 

He even contributed at the plate with a single in his first at-bat of the game while dropping down a nice sacrifice bunt in the seventh to move a runner over and contribute to a much-needed insurance run.

 

In fact, the only real downer to his night came when he was unable to make contact in the fourth inning with one out and a runner on third, after Brandon Crawford had led off the inning with a triple.

 

Crawford did not score in the inning, but the Giants still had the two-run lead.

 

Michael Morse hit a two-out rocket off the brick wall in right field against Padres starter Robbie Erlin to bring in Hunter Pence and give the Giants a 1-0 lead.

 

The next mistake that Erlin made was to second baseman Brandon Hicks, as he left one out over the plate and watched as Hicks hammered it the other way into the right-field arcade.

 

The Giants added to their lead in the seventh, as they got Erlin out of the game and tore into the Padres’ bullpen. Pence got a two-out single that kept the inning going before Buster Posey’s two-out hit up the middle scored Joaquin Arias to provide the slight cushion that the Giants would need.