By Jeremy Harness

Despite the hits the Giants have taken via free agency as well as injuries, this season is starting to shape up like the beginning of the 2014 campaign.

Justin Maxwell, who made the Giants out of spring training as a non-roster invitee, came through with a pinch-hot single in the top of the 12th inning to bring in Brandon Crawford and lift the Giants past the San Diego Padres, 1-0, in the Padres’ home opener at Petco Park.

The Giants seemed to catch a break in the third inning, when Padres starter Ian Kennedy, a perennial Giant-killer, had to leave the game after throwing a pitch to Nori Aoki and feeling tightness in his hamstring.

The extent of his injury was not immediately known at press time, and there is no timetable for his return at this time.

However, that was not the case. Four other Padres hurlers kept the Giants off the scoreboard until Maxwell victimized reliever Nick Vincent to ruin the afternoon of a whole lot of fedora-wearing Padres fans.

Meanwhile, Tim Hudson fired zeroes at the Padres and pitched into the seventh inning while giving up only five hits in the process, even though he also surrendered five walks. He gave way to Jeremy Affeldt, who shut down the Padres fir the remainder of the seventh.

The Giants’ bullpen then combined to give up only two hits the rest of the way, and after the Giants grabbed the lead, closer Santiago Casilla pitched a perfect 12th inning to earn the save and give the Giants a 3-1 record.

The Giants have three more games in San Diego before making their home debut on Monday for a three-game series with the Colorado Rockies, to be followed by a four-gamer with Arizona and a three-game set with the defending NL West champ Los Angeles Dodgers.