Photo credit: @SFGiants

By: Daniel Dullum

PHOENIX, Ariz. – Friday night, it was Arizona’s turn to forge a long, productive inning – highlighted by a milestone home run by Paul Goldschmidt–as the Diamondbacks evened their weekend series with San Francisco by downing the Giants 6-3 at Chase Field.

Of a bigger concern to the Giants, though, is the condition of catcher Buster Posey, who left the game in the third inning following a base hit for what the team called “concussion conditions.”

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, “Buster got a little lightheaded when he got to first base. …It was a foul tip in the first inning when Goldschmidt was up. He just felt it and that’s why he came out.”

“He’s showing better and we’ll monitor Buster overnight, tomorrow. He’ll be off (Saturday) and if all goes well, he could be back in there Sunday. Right now, it’s just important that we keep an eye on him.”

Bochy said he didn’t think the Giants would call up another catcher. “We’re going to err on the side of caution with Buster. We’re not taking any risks.”

With the victory, the D-Backs pulled back into a tie with the Los Angeles Dodgers for first place in the NL West, two games ahead of Colorado and five in front of San Francisco.

D-Backs starter Patrick Corbin (8-4) struck out eight without a walk in six innings while giving up three runs on seven hits.

“To be able to get through six, I’m happy with that,” Corbin said. “I felt good. The pitch count got a little high early, but the offense did a great job putting up some runs.”

The D-Backs roughed up Giants starter Chris Stratton (8-7) by sending 11 hitters to the plate in the first inning. Stratton lasted until the fourth, when Arizona loaded the bases with no one out.

Stratton gave up six earned runs in three-plus innings on 10 hits. He struck out four and walked four.

“(Stratton) was just off with his fastball command,” Bochy said. “His stuff is fine. What he needs is some confidence and you don’t quite see that with him right now.”

San Francisco manufactured a run to take an early 1-0 lead. Back-to-back one-out singles by Posey and Evan Longoria set up Austin Slater’s RBI single to center that brought Posey in from second.

With one out in the bottom of the first, Goldschmidt belted career home run No. 200, tying the game at 1-1. Goldschmidt sent a towering opposite-field drive toward the right-field foul line.

Goldschmidt said home run No. 200 “meant no more than No. 199.”

“I could care less,” Goldschmidt said. “I just go up there and try to help us win. I’ll care more about the number when my career is over.”

From there, the D-Backs batted around, scoring five runs while sending 11 hitters to the plate. Eduardo Escobar’s base hit drove in David Peralta, who followed Goldschmidt’s homer with a single. An RBI walk issued to Alex Avila (batting .171) and Corbin’s two-RBI single completed the rally.

“It’s a really good thing if you get to hit in the first inning,” Corbin said. “I was behind 0-2 and I was just trying to put the bat on the ball and hope for a good thing to happen.”

In the third inning, the Giants cut the D-Backs’ lead to 6-3. Brandon Crawford’s groundout scored Nick Hundley from second, and Slater’s RBI single to center scored Longoria, who singled. Hundley was pinch-running for Posey.

Stratton was chased after the Diamondbacks loaded the bases to start the bottom of the fourth. But reliever Ty Blach retired Escobar on a pop foul and Daniel Descalso grounded into a double play.

After Corbin departed, Yoshihisa Hirano, Archie Bradley and Brad Boxberger shut down the San Francisco offense, retiring eight of 11 hitters.

Boxberger gave up two-out singles to Hunter Pence and Steven Duggar in the ninth, but retired pinch-hitter Gorkys Hernandez on ground out to earn his 26th save.

“We came out of it all right,” Bochy said. “Our bullpen guys did a decent job of keeping us in the game. We had the tying run at the plate in the ninth.”

Peralta was 3-for-4, and A.J. Pollock and Jon Jay both collected two of Arizona’s 12 hits. Posey, Slater and Evan Longoria each had a pair of hits for the Giants.

“It was a good win,” Goldschmidt said. “We were able to get that lead, hold on, and we’ll try to go out there and do it again tomorrow.”

GIANTS JOTTINGS: The Diamondbacks are hosting an alumni game to celebrate the team’s 20th anniversary on Saturday prior to the regular game, which starts at 5:10 p.m. PDT … Probables for Saturday are LHP Andrew Suárez (4-6, 4.11 ERA) for San Francisco and RHP Clay Buchholz (4-1, 2.65 ERA) for the D-Backs. … Attendance on Friday was 27,581.

UP NEXT: The Giants and D-Backs face each other again Saturday at 5:10 pm PDT.