Photo credit: @BruceBochy

By: Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Things were looking bleak for the San Francisco Giants, especially with the way Jake Arrieta was pitching for the Philadelphia Phillies.

That all changed in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Giants exploded for five runs off of Arrieta and the Giants came back to defeat the Phillies by the final score of 6-1 before a crowd of 40,491 at AT&T Park on Sunday afternoon.

The win not only completed the three-game sweep for the Giants, but gave Dereck Rodriguez his first major league win in his first major league start. In the three-game sweep, the Giants outscored the Phillies 12-1.

This was the first three-game sweep by the Giants over the Phillies since July 10-12 of 2015.

Rodriguez went six innings, allowing only one run on five hits, walking one and striking out six. The one run that allowed was a home run to Arrieta that gave the Phillies a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning.

“He’s got a nice feel out there for pitching,” said Bruce Bochy. “He’s not afraid to throw secondary pitches at any time. Commands the ball well. He does the little things.”

The right-hander, who converted from an everyday player to a pitcher just five years ago is the first Giants rookie to win his first major league start since Joe Martinez on August 5, 2009 against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park.

It’s awesome, it’s a great feeling,” Rodríguez said. “We battled out there and in that sixth inning, the guys really pulled together and put up a five spot.”

Ryan Sadowski was the last Giants pitcher to win his major- league debut, and that came on June 28, 2009 against the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

Arrieta was cruising into the bottom of the sixth inning, when the Giants finally got to Arrieta and erupted for five runs.

Gorkys Hernandez got the rally started, as he singled off of Arrieta, following get knocked down by a Arrieta pitch, then Alen Hanson then singled and then Joe Panik tied up the game with a single to right-center field. Buster Posey then drove in Hanson for the eventual game-winning run, and then Andrew McCutchen put the second pitch he saw from Arrieta in the at-bat onto the arcade for his fourth home run of the season.

McCutchen broke a 159-plate appearance streak since his last home run, the longest such streak of his career. His home run to right field was the first by a right-handed batter at AT&T Park since Nick Hundley did it on May 2 against Clayton Richard of the San Diego Padres.

In all, Arrieta also went six innings, allowing five runs on eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out four. With the loss, Arrieta fell to 5-3 on the season.

The five runs that Arrieta allowed in the bottom of the sixth inning, matched the total amount of runs that he allowed in the month of May (three earned) in 30 innings of work. His streak of 33.0 innings of not allowing a home run ended on the McCutchen home run in the bottom of the sixth inning, where the Giants scored five of their six runs.

Mark Melancon made his season debut in the top of the seventh inning, and struck out the side before giving way to Will Smith.

“It’s been a long time,” Melancon said. “So, it’s a really good feeling to be back and help these guys out and it was fun. A lot of fun.”

Buster Posey put the finishing touches on the scoring, as he hit a solo home run in the bottom of the eighth inning. It was the fourth home run of the season for Posey. Last season, Neris hit Posey, and accused Neris of hitting him on purpose.

“I don’t know, I was just trying to go about the at-bat and fortunately, it turned out in my favor,” Posey said.

Since his return from the disabled list, Joe Panik picked up multiple hit games in all three games, and prior to his stint on the disabled list, Panik had only one multi hit game in his last eight games.

NOTES: Derek Holland looks to extends the Giants winning streak to four games, as the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks head to town and send Zack Godley to the mound.

The Phillies are the first team in major league history to score one run in a three-game series and their only run coming on a home run by their pitcher, according to STATS, LLC.

Rodriguez is the fifth Giants rookie this season to pick-up a win for the team, joining Reyes Moronta, Andrew Suarez, Pierce Johnson and Roberto Gomez.

UP NEXT: The Giants will host the Arizona Diamondbacks in a three-game series starting Monday night at 7:15 pm PST.