Giants 5, Padres 4
SAN FRANCISCO -- Angel Pagan drove in two runs with three hits Monday night, and Madison Bumgarner recorded his first win since Opening Day, helping the San Francisco Giants defeat the San Diego Padres 5-4 in the opener of a three-game series.
Hunter Pence smacked his third home run of the season, a solo shot that gave the Giants the lead for good in the fourth inning, and Buster Posey added his third in the seventh inning as San Francisco continued its recent mastery of the Padres at AT&T Park.
The Giants, who went 7-2 at home against San Diego last year, have beaten the Padres in 10 of their last 12 meetings in San Francisco.
Posey's homer, which came off right-hander Carlos Villanueva, turned out to be the difference-maker after the Padres rallied for two runs in the eighth to get within 5-4. Giants relievers Josh Osich and Santiago Casilla then recorded consecutive strikeouts with the potential tying run at third base.
Casilla stayed on to pitch a one-hit ninth, earning his fourth save of the season.
Batting ninth, Pagan had a run-scoring single in the second inning and an RBI double in the fourth, both off Padres left-hander Drew Pomeranz (2-2), improving his season average with runners in scoring position to .600 (9-for-15).
The two RBIs gave him 11, three off Pence's team lead.
The Giants' 12-hit attack benefitted Bumgarner (2-2), who hadn't won since April 4 at Milwaukee.
The staff ace gave up single runs in the third and sixth inning before exiting two outs into the seventh, having given up six hits. He walked two and struck out nine, the fourth consecutive time he whiffed at least nine Padres.
Bumgarner snapped a three-game losing streak during which he went up against the Los Angeles Dodgers' Clayton Kershaw twice and Arizona Diamondbacks' Zack Greinke.
The Giants, who won for just the third time in eight games on their current 10-game homestand, haven't lost four straight Bumgarner starts since Aug. 7-Sept. 3, 2013.
Joe Panik had three hits, including a triple, and Posey two for the Giants, who out-hit the Padres 12-11 and improved to 9-0 when recording more hits than the opponent.
Matt Kemp doubled twice, singled and scored twice for San Diego, which began a six-game trip.
The Padres came within 90 feet of tying the game in the eighth after run-scoring hits by Alexei Ramirez and pinch hitter Brett Wallace got them within 5-4 with just one out.
Osich came on to strike out Jemile Weeks with runners on first and third for the second out. After pinch runner Travis Jankowski stole second to put the potential go-ahead run in scoring position, Casilla fanned pinch hitter Jose Pirela to avoid further damage.
Pomeranz, who allowed a total of just four runs in his previous three starts, got tagged for four (three earned) in 4 1/3 innings by the Giants. He allowed seven hits and three walks while striking out six.
Pomeranz hurt himself with walks early on. He issued one to Brandon Belt in each of the first baseman's first two plate appearances -- both times with no one out -- and it cost him a run both times.
Belt scored the first run of the game in the bottom of the second inning on Pagan's first hit, a two-out single. Belt had advanced to second and then third on a passed ball and a wild pitch.
After Pence's homer in the fourth, Belt and Pagan teamed again to increase the Giants' lead to 3-1. This time, Pagan doubled in the run with two outs, with Belt scoring all the way from first.
The Padres got on the board in the third thanks to a miscue in right field by Pence, who misjudged Weeks' fly ball and turned it into a double.
Weeks scored on Jon Jay's one-out single.
A second passed ball on Padres catcher Derek Norris led to the Giants' fourth run against Pomeranz in the fifth. Panik, who singled, scored on Pence's sacrifice fly after taking third base on the passed ball. The run made it 4-1.
NOTES: San Diego LHP Drew Pomeranz took the mound having struck out 25 in his first three starts for the club. The only Padre ever to whiff more than 25 in his first three outings is current Giants RHP Jake Peavy, who had 26 in 2005. ... The Padres began the series having won 99 consecutive games in which they carried a lead into the ninth inning. It was the second-longest streak in club history, well shy of the 181-game run set from July 1996-April 1999. ... Few teams are happy to see Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner, but the Padres might be an exception. They entered the game with a .291 cumulative batting average against left-handers as opposed to .214 against righties.