By Matthew T.F. Harrington

San Francisco, CALIF. – San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy faced a tough decision in Tuesday night’s contest against the San Diego Padres. Would the major’s best manager stick to a struggling veteran or turn to a new face in the middle game of a three-game set?

Vogelsong (1-2, 6.84 ERA) rewarded his manager’s faith, firing seven innings of three-hit ball, shutting out a potent Padres lineup for his first victory of the season. Vogelsong struck out four Padres while his offense scored early and often for a 6-0 win, pushing San Francisco (14-13) over .500.

“He had good stuff tonight,” said Bochy. “He had good command of the fastball on both sides. He did a tremendous job of bouncing back. This game is all about being resilient. He had good luck, good focus out there.”

The Giants have won five-straight, all against Southern California. They swept the Los Angeles Angels over the weekend and overtook the revamped Padres (14-14) in the standings Tuesday night after winning Monday night’s opener. Giants pitchers have now combined for three shutouts in a row.

“It’s a good way to start this home stand,” said Bochy. “We saw what happened last home stand. It starts with pitching, they set the tone. Every starter in this home stand has done that. Vogey did it tonight.”

The righty Vogelsong was re-signed as insurance for a Giants rotation built around aging veterans Tim Hudson and Jake Peavy accompanying question marks Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum. With various injuries to Giants starters already, Vogelsong stepped in on a number of occasions but still sought an encouraging outing. The 37-year-old’s shaky 2015 campaign included a 9.31 ERA entering Tuesday’s contest over three starts and a pair of long relief appearances.

“I just want to put the whole month of April behind me,” said Vogelsong candidly.

In his previous start, the rival Dodgers roughed a then-bearded Vogelsong up to the tune of 6 runs in a 7-3 loss. The Giants starter coughed up 4 homeruns, doubling his season total in the total while prompting the San Francisco faithful to call for last year’s revelation Yusmeiro Petit as rotation relief. Despite his last outing, he still had faith in his ability.

“I’m a believer,” said Vogelsong. “You can do anything if you believe in yourself. You’re here for a reason.”

Of course, Vogelsong’s self-confidence was aided by his offense Tuesday, with the Giants bats breaking out for 7 hits and 6 runs against Padres right-hander Andrew Cashner (1-5, 3.16) over 6 innings.

Justin Maxwell, a late addition to Bochy’s starting nine, opened the scoring with an RBI single in the second inning. Maxwell took the field following a late scratch to Angel Pagan who was deemed a no-go due to a laceration on his left middle finger after catching a spike on a stolen base attempt Monday night.

“We had some good at-bats,” said Bochy. “We had some timely hits. Maxwell got us going there. Pagan needed a day, so some guys picked it up offensively against a tough pitcher.”

Matt Duffy, playing in place of the slumping Casey McGehee, knocked in a run of his own in the inning on a run-scoring groundout for a 2-0 lead. The Giants runs-batted-in leader Brandon Crawford knocked in his 15^th of the season on a single an inning later, one of three hits on the night for the shortstop.

The next batter, Gregor Blanco, bounced a chopper to first basemen Yangervis Solarte. With the glove at face-level, Solarte instead watched the ball chip into right field for a two-run error and a 5-0 deficit. Joe Panik added the Giants 6^th run in the 5^th inning, launching a belt-high Cashner offering into Levi’s Landing for his second long ball of the season.

Following Madison Bumgarner’s shutout Monday night and Vogelsong’s redeeming outing, the Giants can sweep the Padres and take the edge in the season series 4-3. They wrap up the three-game set with an afternoon matinee pitting San Diego’s Ian Kennedy against Chris Heston and his 2.51 ERA. Perhaps they’ll have Pagan back in the lineup as well.

“I’ll check on him tomorrow in the morning before I do the lineup,” said Bochy. “I know he was pretty sore taking batting practice tonight.”