By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: San Francisco Giants closer Sergio Romo thanks heaven after the last out against the San Diego Padres on Thursday night at Petco Park

The second half of this season has been an obvious disaster for the Giants, as they still have a chance to become the first team in baseball history to have the best record in the majors in the first half and the worst one in the second.

However, the Giants were able to put that to rest for at least one night, as Jeff Samardzija’s seven shutout innings led the way in a 2-1 win over the San Diego Padres Thursday night at Petco Park.

In the process, the Giants kept pace with the New York Mets, who also won on Thursday, as the two teams are now tied atop the National League wild-card standings.

Thursday was a landmark win in the sense that, even though the Giants had pretty owned the Padres in the past few years and had beaten them in every matchup in the first half, it was the first win against them in the second half.

Prior to Thursday, the Giants had been swept by the Padres in each of the two series that the two teams had played against each other in the second half.

To break this string, Samardzija gave up only four hits and striking out nine hitters without walking a single one. It was his second solid inning in a row, as he held the Cardinals on Saturday to only one run on five hits over 6 1/3 innings but had to settle for a no-decision.

This time around, however, he did not have to settle for that. The Giants scored a pair of runs in the eighth inning, thanks to RBI hits from Angel Pagan and Hunter Pence.

The bullpen took over for Samardzija in the bottom half of the eighth, and at first, it looked as if the Giants were heading down a familiar, desolate path after Alex Dickerson launched a solo homer off Derek Law. However, Will Smith steadied the ship immediately following that, retiring two batters to get the Giants out of the inning.

The Giants may have found a solution at closer, even if it is on a temporary basis. Sergio Romo picked up the save Tuesday night in Los Angeles, and he came in again on Thursday and pitched a scoreless ninth to preserve the one-run victory.