Pablo Sandoval’s run with the San Francisco Giants came to an end before Thursday’s San Francisco Giants at San Diego Padres game at Petco Park where the Panda was told of his unconditional release after helping the franchise win three World Series in 2010, 2012, and 2014. (@SF Giants)

By Barbara Mason

The San Francisco Giants took on the Padres in San Diego Thursday night to start a four game series. The Giants are coming off a sweep of the Seattle Mariners and winning a four game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Giants are playing red hot baseball right now, a stark difference from the way they started the season. They played a few hours after they learned that the organization is parting ways, for the second time, with 3rd baseman and fan favorite Pablo Sandoval.

That’s some tough news for a lot of us to digest following the loss of fan favorite Hunter Pence just a few weeks ago. But, it happens and that’s just baseball. None of us will forget what Sandoval meant to the team and the fans and he will be sorely missed.

Tonight’s game saw San Francisco pitcher Trevor Cahill on the mound and the Giants faced San Diego’s Chris Paddack. This has all makings of a tough series for San Francisco. The Padres are also playing some great baseball and currently sit 4.5 games behind the Dodgers. Right now they are a shoe in for a Wild Card with roughly 18 games left in the regular season.

The first inning was a very busy one for the Padres. Trent Grisham and Fernando Tatis Jr. both singled followed by a steal for both players. With runners on second and third Mitch Moreland doubled to deep center scoring both Grisham and Tatis Jr. giving the Padres a 2-0 lead. Austin Nola was next at bat and would double to deep left and Moreland would score for a 3-0 lead as the first inning came to an end.

The Giants would get on the board in the second inning when Wilmer Flores homered to left and at the end of the second inning making the score 3-1 with the Padres leading.

The third inning would see Adrian Morejon come to the mound for San Diego in a pitching change. The Padres would extend their lead when Manny Machado would knock one out of the park for their second homer of the game, San Diego now leading 4-1.

San Diego would send out pitcher Craig Stammen in the fourth inning to face Dickerson, Solano and Belt. In the bottom of the fourth the Padres would continue their onslaught with another homer, this one courtesy of designated hitter Jorge Ona and now the Pads leading 5-1. The Padres had hit three home runs through four innings.

The fifth inning was a quiet one for both teams and the score remained 5-1 in favor of San Diego. Drew Smyly who had taken over on the mound for San Francisco in the fourth inning and had struck out five padres through two innings.

The score remained 5-1 going into the bottom of the sixth inning with San Francisco stranding Dubon and Solano. Smyly remained on the mound for San Francisco in the bottom of the sixth inning striking out two more Padres for a total of seven strike outs while only facing ten players in an electric performance.

The Padres would extend their lead when Jurickson Profar singled and eventually scored when Tatis Jr. hit a sacrifice to deep center. The Giants had their backs against the wall now trailing 6-1 with two innings left in the game. They were six outs away from ending their five game winning streak.

Wandy Peralta came in to pitch for San Francisco in the bottom of the eighth inning. There was not much action in the eighth as the game headed into the ninth inning. Dan Altavilla would try and close out this game for San Diego. With two outs, the Giants were down to their last out. Longoria would line out to right to end the game. The final was 6-1.

Despite the great showing by Drew Smyly, the Giants offense just wasn’t good enough to get past the Padres. In contrast, starting pitcher Trevor Cahill’s showing was a tough one. San Francisco will be back at it tomorrow with first pitch at 6:10 in this long road trip. Starting pitchers for San Francisco Johnny Cueto (2-0 ERA 4.56) for San Diego Garrett Richards (2-2 ERA 4.50).