Tag: Pablo Sandoval

Fishy Circumstances: Once again, Giants allow last-place Marlins to look better than they actually are

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — Hunter Strickland: Close or not to close? That is the question.

For eight innings on Monday, numerous storylines swirled around the windy ballpark by the Bay, most of them surrounding a redemptive win for the Giants over the Miami Marlins, their lowly, youthful nemesis from the National League East.

But all those storylines were flushed when Strickland entered, and walked two of the first three batters he faced, on his way to turning a 4-2 lead into a bitterly, disappointing 5-4 loss.

Quite naturally, manager Bruce Bochy emerged for his post-game presser and the questions surfaced: What’s going on with Strickland? Should he be the closer if Mark Melancon’s healthy? How can he can be the guy if only his fastball is thrown with confidence and proficiency?

“There’s no reason to have a leash on him,” Bochy calmly reasoned.  “He’s pitched well.”

And so continues Bochy’s belief in the hard-throwing right hander, a belief that began with the 2014 World Series, even as Strickland allowed home run after home run.

And the truth is, over the years, Strickland’s got better and better, in concert with Bochy’s steady belief… for the most part.

Monday just wasn’t Strickland’s night, not by any stretch. Nor the Giants, who have suddenly lost seven of 11, and are on mid-season, life support, even in the forgiving NL West.

“For eight innings, we played great baseball,” Bochy said.  “Couldn’t add on…”

Great baseball, then pfffft? Yes.

Andrew Suarez–in his second, consecutive start against the team he grew up watching–had the type of start he wanted in Miami. Suarez pitched into the seventh inning, striking out seven, walking one, before departing with a two-run lead. Making his 11th big league start, the former Miami Hurricane looked like he deserves to make another 100 starts: he was efficient, threw strikes and quietly set the tone for what the Giants hope is a bounce back homestand.

Sam Dyson followed, retiring all five batters he faced. Pablo Sandoval supplied the big blow, a two-run shot in the Giants’ three-run second. Buster Posey, limited in the Dodgers series, started behind the plate, and doubled leading off that inning, setting the table for Joe Panik as well as Sandoval.

Kelby Tomlinson started in place of Brandon Crawford (off to celebrate the birth of his child) and made it happen at short with a pair of Crawford-like fielding plays.

Bochy’s claim of beautiful baseball prior to the ninth? Not far from fact. Not adding on? The Giants went scoreless over the final, six innings of the ballgame. The Giants’ first three hitters in Monday’s lineup–Gorkys Hernandez, Brandon Belt and Andrew McCutchen combined for just one hit (1 for 12, one run scored).

That bring us back to Strickland, who entered Monday’s game having converted 11 of his previous 12 save opportunities, and hadn’t allowed an earned run since May 28 at Colorado. But while facing the bottom half of the Marlins’ lineup, Strickland couldn’t settle in, walking Brian Anderson before allowing J.T. Realmuto’s RBI double. Strickland then walked Justin Bour, a guy who had two hits in his previous 15 at-bats.

One out later, Lewis Brinson, hitting .179, singled home Realmuto, tying the game, 5-5. The next hitter, Miguel Rojas delivered the go- ahead run with a single to right.

“Nothing seemed to be right and working for me,” Strickland admitted.

In his previous 33 appearances in 2018, Strickland walked just 11 batters, and had walked more than one batter just twice. The multiple home runs Strickland allowed in the 2014 postseason aren’t issues any longer. In 2018, Strickland’s allowed a home run to Eric Hosmer and one other to Paul Goldschmidt.

So all numbers point to an off night, and Melancon’s likely to be Strickland’s richly-paid understudy for the forseeable future.

The Giants have now dropped four of five to the Marlins, and are 2-9 against the fish over the last two seasons.

Dereck Rodriguez gets the start Tuesday in a matchup against Miami’s Dan Straily, the former Oakland Athletic.

 

 

Giants look the part, hitting four homers in rout of the Mariners

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By Morris Phillips

SAN FRANCISCO — Like a latenight infomercial, the Giants looked like the newest tonic for a more youthful, vibrant lifestyle on Wednesday.

In a 10-1 rout of the Mariners, the Giants hit, pitched, and played defense like it was… well, like it was 2012.

Johnny Cueto was exceptional, going six innings to pick up the win. Cueto won 19 games for the 2012 Reds, his breakthrough campaign, and after two starts this season, he again looks capable, allowing just one run in 13 innings of work. Cueto slipped and tweaked his ankle in his final inning pitched on Wednesday, but afterwards declared himself healthy and humorous.

“I struck him out everytime,” Cueto answered when asked if teammate Pablo Sandoval once again looked like a nightmare of an opponent after launching a three-run, splash-hit home run off Felix Hernandez. The Panda may not have impressed Cueto, but he’s impressed thus far, adjusting to a role as a reserve, and looking svelte as well. His home run off King Felix was smoked, the highlight of the Giants’ five-run fifth, and the end of the evening for the Mariners’ ace.

“He called it. He said he was going to hit a homer today,” Andrew McCutchen said of Sandoval.

Brandon Belt and Brandon Crawford also homered in the fifth, and both left the yard as authoritatively as did Sandoval. Of course, both Crawford and Belt first assumed starting roles in 2012, and with both coming off a subpar 2017, the two infielders need bounce back campaigns. Belt’s been the more impressive so far, hitting .353 after a 3 for 4 day.

Contrary to baseball’s ever-changing wisdom, the Giants brought back numerous pieces from last year’s 98-loss disaster, stubbornly maintaining that the group could rebound offensively. The opening weekend in Los Angeles wasn’t close, as the offense produced just two runs–only one earned–the worst opening to a season offensively by any club in 30 years.

But with 14 runs scored in a two-game split with the Mariners, the questions have subsided. And the work put in by the returners in the off-season has started to draw attention.

Sandoval is tremendous shape, following a fitness regimen that challenges him daily, the perfect counter to his reduced playing time. Gorkys Hernandez, who started in center field and homered in the third, is 10 pounds heavier after an off-season, weight lifting program. Belt has shortened his swing, emphasizing a more direct path to the baseball. Hunter Pence, who was scratched due to a hand injury, pinch hit in the eighth. Pence also has assumed a fitness, lifestyle program to keep himself healthier.

The Giants open a three-game set with the Dodgers on Friday night with Derek Holland facing Kenta Maeda in the opener.

Sandoval ends season with a walk-off home run Giants win 5-4

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San Francisco Giants’ Pablo Sandoval celebrates after hitting a walk off home run against the San Diego Padres in the ninth inning of a baseball game Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, in San Francisco. (AP Photo/Ben Margot)

By Jeremy Kahn

SAN FRANCISCO-What a great way to end a nightmare season than with a walk-off home run from Pablo Sandoval.

Johnny Cueto went five innings, allowing four runs on 12 hits, while striking out two; however, it was a Sandoval walk-off home run that gave the Giants a come-from-behind victory to give the Giants a 5-4 victory over the San Diego Padres.

This was the first walk-off for Sandoval since May 21, 2013 against the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park.

The Padres jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Giants even came to the plate, as Erick Aybar doubled in Travis Jankowski, who led off the game with a double of his own. After a Carlos Asuaje single, Yangervis Solarte drove in Aybar.

Sandoval got the Giants within one run, as he grounded out to Solarte at first to score Buster Posey, who doubled to lead-off the bottom of the second inning.

Hunter Renfroe extended the lead back up to two runs in the top of the third inning, as he belted his 26th home run of the season.

Jankowski gave the Padres 4-1 lead in the top of the fourth inning, as he singled in Luis Perdomo, who hit his fourth triple of the season to lead-off the inning.

The Giants began to cut into the lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Brandon Crawford doubled to score Denard Span. Following an out from Sandoval, Jarrett Parker singled to score Posey.

Nick Hundley then tied up the game with a force out to score Crawford, and that would be the score until Sandoval’s heroics in the bottom of the ninth inning.

A quartet of relievers that included Ty Blach, Stephen Okert, Cory Gearrin and Hunter Strickland did not allow a hit and just two walks.

Luis Perdomo pitched seven innings, allowing four runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out four and ended the season with a record of 8-11.

With the four triples, Perdomo became the first pitcher since Robin Roberts of the Philadelphia Phillies in 1955 to have four triples in a season.

NOTES: Once again, the Giants went over the three million mark in attendance, as they accomplished it for the eighth consecutive season and for the 16th time in the 18 years since moving to AT&T Park.

The 2018 season will open at Dodger Stadium against the Los Angeles Dodgers on March 29.

On this date in Giants history, Brandon Crawford hit a grand slam in the top of the fifth inning, as the Giants would go on to defeat the Pittsburgh Pirates 8-0 behind Madison Bumgarner in the National League Wild Card Game. Bumgarner went the distance, and allowed just four hits.

Pill with the big hit in Giants win

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By Jeremy Kahn

Brett Pill just wanted the opportunity to play down the stretch for the San Francisco Giants ,and he got it against the rival Los Angeles Dodgers.

Pill hit a two-run single off of Cy Young Award candidate Clayton Kershaw in the top of the seventh inning, as the Giants came back to defeat the Dodgers 4-2 at Dodger Stadium.

The Pill single drove in Pablo Sandoval and Joaquin Arias, and on the play, Pill advanced to second when Andre Ethier bobbled the ball for an error in centerfield.

Hunter Pence continues to be one of the Giants hottest hitter, as he hit his 22nd home run of the season, an opposite field poke off of Chris Withrow in the top of the eighth inning.

Madison Bumgarner went the first six innings for the Giants, as he he allowed two runs on five hits, walking only two and striking out six.

The lone mistake of the night by Bumgarner was when his former teammate Juan Uribe smashed a two-run home run over the left-center field wall to break a scoreless tie in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Arias got the Giants on the board in that same top of the seventh inning when Pill hit his two-run single, as Arias hit a single that scored Pence.

It was the 12th win of the season for Bumgarner, and the 34th save of the season for Sergio Romo, who pitched the final one and one-thirds to nail it down.

Romo allowed two hits and struck out rookie sensation Yaisel Puig with two on and nobody out in the bottom of the ninth inning.

Adrian Gonzalez grounded out on a wacky play to end the game, as his batted ball went up the middle off of Romo’s ankle and bounced over to Arias who threw to Pill to end it.Brett Pill

Petit is nearly perfect

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By Jeremy Kahn

PhotoSAN FRANCISCO-Yusmeiro Petit came within just one strike of baseball immortality against his former team, the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The right-hander, who is making his third start in the last two weeks, came within one strike of becoming the 24th pitcher to throw a perfect game, as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Diamondbacks 3-0 before a sellout crowd of 41,180 at AT&T Park.

Petit retired the first 26 batters he faced, but former Oakland A’s third baseman Eric Chavez broke up the perfecto with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, as his single was out of the reach of a diving Hunter Pence in right field.

In all, Petit threw a complete game one-hit shutout, the first of his career, as he struck out seven, just five days after striking out a career-high 10 in the Giants 8-2 victory over these same Diamondbacks on Sunday afternoon at Chase Field in Phoenix.

Petit was only the second Giants pitcher this season to throw a complete game, joining Tim Lincecum, who threw a no-hitter on July 13 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.

The eight and two-thirds of no-hit ball pitched by Petit was the longest in his career, breaking his previous long of seven innings, while pitching for the Diamondbacks at PNC Park against the Pittsburgh Pirates on August 4, 2009.

Petit is the 12th pitcher in major league history to lose a perfect game with two outs in the ninth inning, and the second this season, as Yu Darvish of the Texas Rangers lost a perfect game in his first start of the season against the Houston Astros at Minute Maid Park on April 2, 2013.

In that game, Ronny Cedeno broke up Petit’s no-hit bid with no outs in the bottom of the eighth inning, as the Diamondbacks defeated the Pirates 6-0.

Pence scored the first run of the game for the Giants in the bottom of the second inning, as Petit’s battery mate Hector Sanchez drove him in with a single.

It was also Pence who scored the Giants second run of the game in the bottom of the fourth inning, as he scored on the second Sanchez single of the night.

On the night, Pence went 3-for-3 with three runs, a single, a double and a home run.

Over his last 15 games, Pence is hitting .392, going 20-for-51 with nine RBIs, and 13 runs scored.

This was also the 48th multi-hit game of the season for Pence, tied for the third-most in the National League.

Following the Pence double, Pablo Sandoval nearly reached for the second consecutive at-bat; however Adam Eaton made a terrific catch in left field.

Joaquin Arias was then retired following the Sandoval fly out, as Paul Goldschmidt made a great play at first base.

Petit’s opponent on the mound, Patrick Corbin nearly picked up the first Diamondbacks hit in the top of the sixth inning, but Juan Perez made a tremendous diving catch to preserve the game for Petit.

Corbin went eight innings, allowing three runs on eight hits, walking just one and striking out five, but lost for the second time in the last five days to the Giants.

Sandoval extended his hitting streak to eight-straight games, as he singled off of Corbin in the bottom of the second inning.

During the streak, Sandoval is hitting .406 (13-for-32) with eight RBIs, also over his last 23 games, the 2012 World Series MVP is hitting .386 (33-for-86) with 20 RBIs.

Pence made it 3-0 in the bottom of the eighth inning, as he took a Corbin pitch and supplanted it into the left field bleachers for his 19th home run of the season.

It was the 19th home run of the season for Pence, as he is just one home run shy of becoming the first Giants player to go 20-20 since Barry Bonds turned the trick in 1998.

Pence and Sandoval are not the only Giants swinging a hot bat, as Angel Pagan extended his hitting streak up to 11 games, as he singled in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Giants pounce on the Padres

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By Jeremy Harness

The last time Pablo Sandoval hit three home runs in a game, he was leading the Giants past the Detroit Tigers in Game 1 of last year’s World Series.

Lest to say that we are far removed from those days, even though it was only less than 11 months ago. Nonetheless, every win should be taken as a positive, no matter how meaningless it is now, and Sandoval’s three-bomb outing Wednesday night helped the Giants breeze past the San Diego Padres, 13-5, at PETCO Park.

In hitting the trio of homers, Sandoval drove in a total of six runs, giving the Giants all the runs they would need to pull out the victory.

Well, this game did have some meaning, in the fact the Giants are no longer in the cellar of the National League West. Now they have company, as they dropped the Padres into a tie with them for last place with matching 62-77 records.

Tim Lincecum didn’t pitch great – he gave up five earned runs on seven hits, walking four and striking out five – put he held on long enough to pick up only his ninth victory of the season against 13 defeats.

He was helped out by a bullpen that combined to allow only two hits the rest of the way.

Aside from Sandoval, Hunter Pence had a rather-solid game at the plate for the Giants. He knocked in three runs, including a two-run homer in the fourth inning off Padres starter Eric Stults.

Chavez bites Giants

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By Jeremy Kahn

PHOENIX-Eric Chavez played against the San Francisco Giants in the Bay Bridge Series for the Oakland A’s, but he is now playing for the Arizona Diamondbacks and he continues to be a pest for the Orange and Black.

Chavez hit a walk-off single off of Sandy Rosario in the bottom of the ninth inning, as the Diamondbacks defeated the Giants 4-3 before a crowd of 36,091 at Chase Field.

“It was a fastball away. I’d never faced that guy before, so I didn’t know what he had. I was just looking for a strike,” said Chavez.

In his career versus the Giants, Chavez is now 43-for-174, a .247 clip over his 15-year career with the A’s, New York Yankees and now the Diamondbacks.

“This has kind of been the only time I haven’t swung the bat good the whole year, but I feel fine. I just haven’t been getting any hits. So that was a nice one to get,” said Chavez.

Willie Bloomquist led off the ninth inning with a single, and then after an Adam Eaton sacrifice bunt advanced Bloomquist to second base, Paul Goldschmidt was walked intentionally to bring Chavez to the plate and he took a Rosario offering to the opposite field to win the game.

It was the 12th walk-off win of the season for the Diamondbacks and the first walk-off for Chavez since June 4, 2007 against the Boston Red Sox, when he hit a home run in the bottom of the 11th inning off of Kyle Snyder and made a winner out of current Giants reliever Santiago Casilla (according to Retrosheet).

After being tamed by former Oakland A’s pitcher Trevor Cahill for six innings, the San Francisco Giants finally got to the right-hander in the top of the seventh inning.

Cahill pitched 6.1 innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, while walking three and striking out three.

Gregor Blanco led off the top of the seventh inning with his second home run of the season to get the Giants their first run since Angel Pagan scored in the top of the first inning of Friday night’s 1-0 victory.

After a Roger Kieschnick strike out, Pagan singled and then scored the second run of the inning on a triple by Marco Scutaro.

Brandon Belt struck out for the second out of the inning, and then the Giants tied up the game on a single by Buster Posey off of Josh Collmenter.

Hunter Pence then singled for his third hit of the game that advanced Posey to third, but the two were stranded, as Pablo Sandoval grounded out to Collmenter to end the inning.

Pagan came up huge in the field in the bottom of the seventh inning, as he made a diving catch off a sinking liner off the bat of Montero.

“Did a great job again, he’s excited to be back,” said Bruce Bochy.

Miguel Montero got the Diamondbacks on the board after he singled to right field in the bottom of the fourth inning, to score Martin Prado, who doubled to leadoff the inning.

Following the Montero single, Gerardo Parra hit a sacrifice fly to Pence in right field that scored Aaron Hill, who singled following Prado.

After a sacrifice bunt by Cahill, that advanced Montero to second base, Willie Bloomquist drove in the third run of the frame to score Montero, but after attempting to stretch the single into a double, Bloomquist was tagged out by Brandon Belt after a great throw by Pagan in centerfield.

Ryan Vogelsong saw his scoreless inning end at 15, as he allowed those three runs to cross the plate in the bottom of the fourth inning.

In all, Vogelsong went six innings, allowing three runs on nine hits, while walking two and striking out one.

This was the seventh consecutive start that Vogelsong held his opponent to three runs-or less.

“Felt pretty good, I was not as sharp as I was on Sunday,” said Vogelsong.

Vogelsong did pickup his second hit of the season in the top of the fifth inning with a single, but was stranded at third base.

Like in the fifth inning, when Vogelsong was stranded at third base, it happened again in the top of the sixth inning, as Hunter Pence was stranded just 90 feet away from home plate.

Pence advanced to second on a wild pitch after singling with one out, went to third on a Pablo Sandoval ground out to first base and then Brandon Crawford struck out swinging to end the inning.

Things could have gotten a lot worse for the Giants in the bottom of the sixth inning, as the Diamondbacks loaded the bases with one out.

Aaron Hill walked, then Montero singled and then Parra singled to load up the bases against Vogelsong.

Cahill hit a sharp hit ball to Crawford at shortstop, and he threw to plate, where Buster Posey just barely got to home plate ahead of the sliding Hill for the second out of the inning.

Bloomquist then grounded out to Vogelsong for the final out of the inning, and escape the jam.

There was a scary moment for Bochy in the bottom of the fourth inning, as Montero lost control of his bat and flew towards the Giants dugout.

“The net saved me,” said Bochy.

Not did it get a chuckle from the Giants dugout, but Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson was shown on the television getting a good laugh.

“My guys did too,” said Bochy.

NOTES: Yusmeiro Petit will take the ball in the series finale against his former team, while 13-game winner Patrick Corbin will head to the mound for the Diamondbacks.

With the loss, the Giants drop 2-3 on their three-city, 10-day road trip, thru Colorado, Arizona and San Diego.

The Giants are now 26-40 (.393) away from AT&T Park with 15 games remaining, the fifth-lowest winning percentage in the National League.

Tony Abreu will be activated back to the roster on Sunday, as major league teams can increase their rosters for the final month of the season.

According to the Elias Sports Bureau in Friday night’s 1-0 victory, this was the first time in 21 years that the Giants won a game where they scored their only run in the top of the first inning.

On their last two occasions, both wins came against the Atlanta Braves (August 7, 1991 and September 30, 1992).

DOWN ON THE FARM: Infielder Christian Arroyo, the first-round pick in the 2013 MLB Draft, was named the Arizona Rookie League MVP.

In 45 games with the AZL Giants, Arroyo batted .326 going 60-184 at the plate with 25 extra base hits and 45 runs scored.

Arroyo was not the only player to be named to the AZL All-Star team, as Giants second round pick infielder Ryder Jones and left-handed pitcher Luis Ysla and AZL Giants manager Nestor Rojas was named Field Staff All-Star of the Year.

Lincecum defangs Diamondbacks

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By Jeremy Kahn

August 30, 2013

PHOENIX-Tim Lincecum is a free agent at the end of the 2013 season, but if he pitches the rest of the way like his two last starts, he should be wearing Orange and Black next season.

Lincecum went seven innings, allowing zero runs on six hits, while walking two and striking out two on his way to his second consecutive win and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks 1-0 before a crowd of 24,380 at Chase Field.

“Best I have had felt out there in a while,” said Lincecum, who threw 99 pitches on the evening.

The win was also special for Giants centerfielder Angel Pagan, who made his return to a major league diamond for the first time since May 25, when hit a walk-off two-run inside-the-park home run at AT&T Park against the Colorado Rockies.

In his first major league at-bat in 82 games, Pagan hit a double off of Diamondbacks starter Randall Delgado and then scored the only Giants run that they would need, as Brandon Belt hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Pagan from third base in the top of the first inning.

“I was going, I was going to challenge (A.J. Pollock),” said Pagan.

Despite taking the loss, Delgado pitched an admirable game, as he went seven innings, allowing one runs on just three hits, walking two and striking out three; however he saw his record fall to 4-5 on the season.

Paul Goldschmidt, who entered the game with a .529 clip in his career versus Lincecum was retired in his first at-bats, but finally got to Lincecum, as he hit a single in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Following the Goldschmidt single, Martin Prado hit a single that sent Goldschmidt and immediately following the Prado single, Aaron Hill walked to load the bases.

After going 1-for-3 on the night, Goldschmidt is still hitting at .an .500 clip, as he is now 10-for-20 in his career versus the two-time Cy Young Award Winner.

Lincecum then struck out Miguel Montero on three consecutive pitches, and Pablo Sandoval saved the shutout, as he dove for an A.J. Pollock hit down the left field line, got up and threw to Belt for the final out of the inning.

“Ball down the line, looking at a crooked number,” said Bruce Bochy, “that was how we won the game.”

Marco Scutaro made an amazing play at second base, as Goldschmidt was running on the pitch, Scutaro was covering second and a ball hit by Prado was snared by Scutaro, who tagged second and threw to first to complete the double play.

Sandoval was forced to leave the game after being hit on the knee by a Brad Ziegler pitch in the top of the ninth inning and was replaced by Joaquin Arias at third base.

Sergio Romo came on in the bottom of the ninth inning, and shut the Diamondbacks down to pickup his 33rd save of the season.

Romo extends two different streaks at Chase Field, as he now completes 20.0-consecutive scoreless innings, tied for the second longest streak all-time by a visiting pitcher in the history of the ballpark (according to Stats LLC).

Also, Romo completed his 23rd consecutive inning of scoreless appearances at Chase Field, the longest such by any visiting pitcher at any ballpark since 1921 (according to Stats LLC).

NOTES: Ryan Vogelsong will take the ball in the second game of the three-game series on Saturday afternoon, while former Oakland A’s starter Trevor Cahill will toe the rubber for Kirk Gibson’s Diamondbacks.

Former Diamondbacks pitcher Yusmeiro Petit will face his former team on Sunday, while 13-game winner Patrick Corbin will head to the mound for the Diamondbacks.

To make room for Pagan, Francisco Peguero was optioned to Fresno and Andres Torres was transferred from the 15-day to the 60-day disabled list after having surgery on his left Achilles.

With the victory, the Giants are now 5-10 following an off day this season, their first win after an off day since Chad Gaudin defeated the Diamondbacks on July 19 at AT&T Park.

The Giants have raised their record versus the National League West to 31-24, the best out of any team in the division.

When the game began at 6:40 (local time) it was a balmy 91 degrees outside of the ballpark, but a cool 78 degrees inside.

Giants take advantage of Brewers mistakes, win 4-2

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by Kahlil Najar

SAN FRANCISCO, CA. — On a day billed as a Grateful Dead Tribute Night that saw Bob Weir throw out the first pitch and plenty of tie dyed shirts throughout AT&T Park, the magic was certainly in the air as a plethora of mistakes by the Brewers (47-65) were able to propel the Giants (50-61) to a 4-2 win and give them their first win of this important seven-game homestand.

The Giants started the scoring off in the bottom of the fourth when Gregor Blanco came to the plate and hit a hard grounder to first base that Juan Francisco was able to field but threw the ball into the dirt past an outstretched Scooter Gennett and went into left field. Brandon Belt who was already on second was running on contact and was able to score safely on the Francisco’s fifth error of the year to give the Giant’s a 1-0 lead. In the seventh inning, the Brew Crew were able to tie the game when Francisco hit a deep ball to center field that popped over the fence for a ground rule double and scored Jonathan Lucroy who had started off the inning with his 18th double of the year.

The bottom of the eight proved to be the most mind-bending inning for the Brewers as after a lead off walk and a stolen base to Hunter Pence landed him at second base, the usually reliable John Axford threw a wild pitch on an intentional walk to Pablo Sandoval that moved Pence over to third and Sandoval at first with one out. The pitching miscue landed Axford in the doghouse and the Brewers brought in reliever Michael Gonzalez to face red hot Brandon Belt who had three singles on the day. After bringing Belt to a full count, Gonzalez threw a slider in the dirt that loaded the bases.

The next batter Jeff Francouer, who was pinch-hitting for Roger Kieschnick smacked a broken bat single off of new Brewer reliever Rob Wooten to left field just over the reach of Jean Segura and allowed Hunter Pence to score from third and give the Giants a 2-1 lead. After a routine pop out by Gregor Blanco, Giants manager Bruce Bochy again decided to bring in a pinch hitter and this time he brought in right-handed batter Joaquin Arias who after three straight sliders hit a ground ball to third that slipped under the glove of Jeff Bianchi and allowed Pablo Sandoval and Brandon Belt to score to give the Giant’s a three run lead with a score of 4-1. Sergio Romo came in the close the game in the top of the ninth and gave up an home run to Juan Francisco but settle down and earned his 27th save of the year.

Giants pitcher Chad Gaudin (5-2) had an impressive game as he lasted for six and one-third innings and only gave up four hits and one run and notched an impressive eight strike outs and continued his streak of only allowing two runs or fewer in eight of his last ten starts. “He’s just been so consistent, both in the ‘pen and starting,” Bochy said. “He’s so valuable on this ballclub. We needed a starter and he’s stepped in and he’s thrown the ball as well as anybody.”

Hunter Pence did his best impersonation of the Grateful Dead Bears as he walked a team high three times and continued his streak of reaching base safely every game since the All-Star game. Brandon Belt also had himself a game today as he notched his second three-hit, two-runs performance of August.

The Giants and the Brewers head back at it tomorrow when Matt Cain (7-6, 4.57 ERA) squares up against Wily Peralta (7-11, 4.57 ERA), game time 7:15pm.