Giants’ Offense Bursts Out to Overcome Gaudin’s Rough Outing
Aug 16, 2013; Miami, FL, USA; San Francisco Giants right fielder Hunter Pence (second from left) is greeted by teammates first baseman Brandon Belt (center) as manager Bruce Bochy (far left) looks on during the first inning against the Miami Marlins at Marlins Park. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
The Giants’ offense bursted out on Friday night against Marlins starter Nathan Eovaldi in a big way, posting season-highs in both runs and hits. With a couple glimpses of collapse, San Francisco held on to win 14-10.
The Giants’ outburst started early and continued. Three consecutive singles off the bats of Marco Scutaro, Brandon Crawford and Brandon Belt loaded the bases for Hunter Pence in the first inning On a first-pitch slider, Pence sharply lined a ground ball to shortstop Adeiny Hechavarria, who booted it into shallow left field. Scutaro and Crawford both scored on what should’ve been a double play.
Instead, Eovaldi was forced to deal with Pablo Sandoval, who promptly shot a two-run double into the right center field gap. Pence collected a two-run double of his own an inning later, and Sandoval tacked on another RBI.
From there, the Giants set the tone. The new Marlins Park is considered to be a pitcher’s park, limiting the amount of runs and home runs. That obviously wasn’t the case Friday.
And it wasn’t entirely one-sided. The Marlins quickly sliced a 7-0 deficit into a 7-4 deficit with a four-run fourth inning. Chad Gaudin surrendered six hits in the inning. His slider command was nowhere to be seen as Miami battered him around.
But the Giants’ offense struck back in the fourth. Belt doubled and Pence doubled him home. Sandoval singled, and Hector Sanchez, whose three-run home run against the Nationals on Thursday help the Giants avoided a sweep, launched another three-run blast about 24 hours later. That made the score 11-4, and Gregor Blanco added an RBI single after Roger Kieschnick tripled.
The ping-pong-like battle continued in the bottom half of the inning when Justin Ruggiano smacked a Gaudin pitch 426 feet. He later doubled home two runs in another four-run fifth inning, while adding a solo shot off Barry Zito in the ninth.
Gaudin was replaced in the fifth, and his final line wasn’t all too impressive: 4 IP, 11 hits, eight earned runs, four walks and five strikeouts. Jose Mijares, who relieved him, didn’t make matters any better. He surrendered three straight hits, all of which scored at least one run.
The cap to San Francisco’s scoring output ended in the seventh. Scutaro scored on Belt’s RBI triple, and minutes later, Pence registered a triple, scoring Belt.