Longoria’s double wins it for the Giants 6-5

Photo credit: mercurynews.com

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO — Evan Longoria came up with the biggest hit of the night at the most opportune time.

Longoria hit a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh inning, propelling the San Francisco Giants to a come-from-behind 6-5 victory over the San Diego Padres before a crowd of 28,535 at Oracle Park.

Longo came thru in a big way, said Bruce Bochy.

The seventh inning got underway, as Brandon Belt came off the bench to pinch hit for Mark Melancon and walked against Trey Wingenter. Joe Panik then singled Belt to third, and after Mike Yastrzemski flew out to Hunter Renfroe in right field, Longoria smashed a double off the left field wall to score both Belt and Panik and on the throw home, Longoria went to third.

Joe did a great job running, and I thought the base running was very good tonight, said third base coach Ron Wotus.

Pablo Sandoval then drove in Longoria with an insurance run, as he hit a sacrifice fly to center field.

Fernando Tatis, Jr., took the first pitch he saw from Tyler Beede and put it into the Garden over the centerfield wall in the top of the first inning to give the Padres an early 1-0 lead.

Following the Tatis, Jr., home run, Josh Naylor and Eric Hosmer both singled and it looked like it was going to be a short night for Beede.

That would be on the contrary, as following the Hosmer single with one out in the inning, Beede began to settle and retired the next 11 batters until Wil Myers led off that fateful fifth inning with a walk against Beede.

After Myers walked, Beede was able to get Austin Hedges to fly out for the first out of the inning, Myers then stole second and then pitcher Chris Paddack picked up his first major league hit, as Brandon Crawford cut the ball from going into the outfield.

Tatis, Jr., then picked up his second hit of the game, as Joe Panik made a great play to knock the ball down; however, his flip to Crawford went awry and Myers scored easily from third base.

Beede then got Josh Naylor for the second out of the inning, but was lifted for Trevor Gott after he walked Manny Machado.

Then came the play that epitomized the Giants season in a nutshell, as Hosmers comebacker to Gott knocked his glove off his hand and threw it to first, where Hosmer was called safe; however, with the runners going on anything, both Paddack and Tatis, Jr., scored to give the Padres the lead.

Looked like we were taking infield there, said Bochy.

Crawford would have made the play had I let the ball go through, said Gott.

Gott was able to get out of the inning, as he struck out Hunter Renfroe to end the inning.

The Giants took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Pablo Sandoval led off the inning with a single and then went to third on a Stephen Vogt single. Vogt was thrown out at second base, and then it looked like Paddack would get out of the jam, when he got Crawford to ground out back to him; however, Tyler Austin tied up the game with a single that scored Sandoval and then Steven Duggar got involved in the game.

Duggar launched a two-run home run onto the Levis Landing to give the Giants a two-run lead.

Paddack, who went five innings, allowing three runs on six hits, walking one and striking out six; however, he did not fare in the decision.

On the other side of things, Beede is still looking for that elusive first major league win, as he went four and two-thirds innings, allowing four runs on five hits, walking two and striking out a career-high seven.

I felt great, but there was some tough luck, said Beede.

Mark Melancon pitched a perfect seventh inning, as he struck out two and picked up his third win of the season.

Ian Kinsler made it a one-run game in the top of the eighth inning, as he hit his eighth home run of the season off of Tony Watson.

Will Smith came on in the top of the ninth inning, and nailed down his 15th save of the season in 15 opportunities to even the home stand at two games apiece with four to go. Smith struck out two, including Tatis, Jr., to end the game.

NOTES: Smith tied Craig Lefferts for the longest save streak to start a season with those 15 saves, Lefferts held the record of 15 from 1989 until Rod Beck broke it in 1994, when he saved 28 in a row.

Beedes previous career high of six was set also against the Padres on April 15, 2018 at Petco Park.

This was the teams 15th win of the season by one run, and the 15-6 record in one-run games is the best in the major leagues.

It was the 16th come-from-behind win for the Giants this season.

The 85-degree temperature at first pitch was the hottest at first pitch since June 14, 2001 against the Anaheim Angels.

It just the third time since the Giants moved to San Francisco in 1958 that they were three straight games of 80 degrees or higher. It also occurred on June 29, 30 and July 1 of 1996, and also August 31, September 1 and 2 of 2017.

That was the first lead-off home run of Tatis, Jrs. career and the second lead-off home run of the season for the Padres, Manuel Margot led off the April 14 game against the Arizona Diamondbacks with a home run at Chase Field.

Over their last six games, the Giants are 5-for-37 with runners in scoring position and have left 36 runners on base in that span.

UP NEXT: Shaun Anderson will take the mound in the finale of this brief two-game series on Wednesday night for the Giants, while Joey Lucchesi takes the mound for the Padres

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