Giants 7, Padres 1
SAN DIEGO -- Buster Posey lined a two-run double to right field in the seventh inning Wednesday to propel the San Francisco Giants to a 7-1 victory over the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
The Padres led 1-0 after five innings before San Francisco tied the game on first baseman Brandon Belt's two-out homer in the sixth and scored three runs in both the seventh and eighth innings -- all against the Padres' bullpen after right-handed starter James Shields had departed.
The Giants' second straight win made a winner of Matt Cain (2-1) and was the reigning World Series champions' eighth win in the last nine games.
Cain allowed one run -- a homer by second baseman Jedd Gyorko in the second inning -- on five hits and a walk over six innings. He struck out six.
The teams were tied 1-1 after six innings on the exchange of solo homers by Gyorko and Belt.
Center fielder Angel Pagan opened the Giants' winning rally with a one-out single, although the key play ahead of Posey's double came on a full-count pitch to third baseman Matt Duffy.
Duffy, who had struck out in his three previous at-bats, checked his swing on a low outside slider from right-handed reliever Brandon Maurer drawing a walk to extend the inning and place Giants at first and second.
Posey, the Giants' catcher, then hit a sinking liner between right fielder Matt Kemp and the right-field line that rolled to the wall after Kemp's unsuccessful attempt at a diving catch. Pagan scored easily and Duffy scored from first as Kemp retrieved the ball.
Posey then scored when right fielder Hunter Pence's line drive to right-center landed between Kemp and center fielder Melvin Upton Jr. for a single.
The Giants added three more runs in the eighth against right-handed reliever Dale Thayer.
Shortstop Brandon Crawford opened the inning with his second homer of the series and his 14th of the season -- and the second in as many nights against Thayer. Left fielder Gregor Blanco followed with a double down the line in right and scored on pinch hitter Justin Maxwell's single to center through a drawn-in infield. Duffy singled home the final run.
Gyorko put the Padres on the board first with a 378-foot line drive that hit off the lower scoreboard on the second deck in left. Gyorko hit a full-count pitch from Cain.
The Giants tied the game shortly after Padres right-handed starter James Shields was pulled for a pinch hitter in the bottom of the fifth.
Shields allowed three hits and three walks and struck out seven. But it took him 96 pitches to negotiate the first five innings.
The Giants put runners on base in each of the first four innings and left the bases loaded in the fourth. Four of the seven Giants stranded by Shields were in scoring position -- three moving into position with one out.
Padres right-handed reliever Marcos Mateo retired the first two Giants he faced in the sixth before Belt connected on a 407-foot shot into the sand beyond the fence in right-center. It was Belt's 10th homer of the season.
NOTES: The Giants activated LHP Jeremy Affeldt from the disabled list and optioned LHP Josh Osich to Triple-A Sacramento. Affeldt, who had been on the disabled list since June 11 with a shoulder strain, faced two hitters Wednesday and allowed a hit and a walk. ... The Padres recalled OF Abraham Almonte from Triple-A El Paso and optioned INF Will Middlebrooks to the Chihuahuas. Although he had been used recently at shortstop, Middlebrooks will primarily play third base with El Paso. “We'd like him to come back as our third baseman,” said manager Pat Murphy, who said Middlebrooks was going out to get his bat (.212) going. ... Padres RHP Brandon Morrow, who has been out since May 3 with right shoulder inflammation, threw a bullpen session Wednesday and will make a three-inning, 45-pitch rehab start with El Paso this weekend in Salt Lake City. ... Padres LF Justin Upton missed a third straight start with soreness in his left oblique muscle.