Giants maintain dominance over Padres
SAN FRANCISCO -- Buster Posey broke a tie with a run-scoring double in the sixth inning, and Brandon Crawford drove in four runs as the San Francisco Giants pulled away for an 8-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Tuesday.
The Giants recorded their eighth consecutive win in the intrastate rivalry.
Jeff Samardzija and three relievers combined to limit the Padres to two runs on nine hits, helping the Giants equal their longest winning streak against the Padres in franchise history.
Jon Jay's home run off Samardzija in the top of the sixth drew the Padres even before Joe Panik led off the bottom of the inning with a walk off San Diego starter Andrew Cashner (2-4).
Panik advanced to second on Matt Duffy's slow roller to the pitcher, then scored the tiebreaker standing up on Posey's liner down the left field line.
After Brandon Belt flied to center field for the second out, Crawford singled to right field, and Posey beat Matt Kemp's throw to the plate for a 3-1 lead.
Kemp, who allowed Hunter Pence's high fly ball to drop in front of him to end the Giants' 1-0 win Monday, continued to have a nightmarish series Tuesday, getting thrown out trying to stretch a first-inning single into a double and an eighth-inning double into a triple.
The latter was particularly troublesome as it came when he was the leadoff hitter in the eighth with the Padres trailing just 3-1. He was initially ruled safe at third, but Giants manager Bruce Bochy used replay to get a call reversed for the second time in the game, short-circuiting a possible San Diego rally.
The Giants went on to extend the lead in the bottom of the inning on a three-run triple by Crawford and a two-run home run by Jarrett Parker, who was promoted from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day.
Samardzija (7-2) became the second Giants starter in two nights to record a seventh win in his first 10 starts of the season, joining Johnny Cueto. He allowed one run on six hits and three walks in 6 2/3 innings, striking out seven.
The win was Samardzija's third of the season against the Padres, who were limited to three hits when the first-year Giant beat them 3-1 last week.
Left-hander Josh Osich and righties Cory Gearrin and George Kontos followed Samardzija with 2 1/3 innings of one-run, three-hit relief.
The Padres' second run came off Kontos in the ninth on pinch hitter Hector Sanchez's two-out RBI single.
Cashner, activated from the disabled list earlier in the day, took the loss, giving up three runs in six innings. He allowed four hits and four walks while striking out one.
Crawford had a triple and a single, Denard Span a double and a single, and Gregor Blanco two singles for the Giants, who won for the 12th time in their past 13 games.
Crawford raised his season RBI total to 26.
Kemp and Alexei Ramirez had two hits apiece for the Padres, who lost their third in a row.
Jay's homer provided the Padres' first run of the series after they'd been blanked on a total of just five hits by Cueto and Samardzija in the first 14 innings. His first-pitch blast to right field opened the sixth inning and drew the Padres even at 1-1.
The homer was Jay's second of the season.
The Giants got on the board first in the third inning thanks to an overturned call on review.
Blanco led off the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second by Samardzija.
With Padres shortstop Ramirez standing on second base expecting a pickoff throw, Span grounded a single through the vacated position, and Blanco was given the green light to head home.
A strong throw by Padres left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. initially was ruled to have gotten Blanco at the plate. However, that call was reversed on replay, giving Span his 17th RBI and the Giants a 1-0 lead.
NOTES: Both teams continued troubling trends in the series opener Monday. San Diego's hitters went 0-for-9 leading off innings. The Padres finished the night ranked last in the National League in batting average (.204) and on-base percentage (.245) when leading off an inning. San Francisco, meanwhile, went 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position. The Giants began play Tuesday having gone hitless in their last 17 at-bats in those situations. ... In order to activate RHP Andrew Cashner from the disabled list, the Padres optioned reliever RHP Kevin Quackenbush to Triple-A El Paso. ... The Giants placed LF Angel Pagan (strained left hamstring) on the 15-day DL and recalled OF Jarrett Parker from Triple-A Sacramento. ... Giants RF Hunter Pence (strained right hamstring), hero of Monday's win in a pinch-hitting role, once again was not in the starting lineup Tuesday. Manager Bruce Bochy said he expects Pence to be limited to pinch-hitting duties for the rest of the series.