Pablo Sandoval Leads Giants To 9-8 Roller Coaster Win
The San Francisco Giants picked up a 9-8 win this evening against the San Diego Padres. Pablo Sandoval led the way with four RBI’s, every one of which was necessary to squeak out the win.
Also, the win comes after the Giants had learned they clinched a playoff spot earlier in the day after the Milwaukee Brewers lost to the Cincinnati Reds. With a celebration planned either way, it was nice to do so after a win and not a loss.
Today’s game was definitely a roller coaster of emotions, though at this time of the year San Francisco Giants fans should be used to that.
The Giants looked good early and often as they scored at least a run in the first five innings of the game to open up a healthy 6-0 lead up to that point. Pablo Sandoval led the way offensively with four RBI’s on the night, one in each of his four plate appearances. Those include a sacrifice fly in the first and three singles in the third and fifth innings.
While things started out easily for the San Francisco Giants, it didn’t stay that way as the San Diego Padres scored three runs in the sixth inning and five more in the top of the seventh, and just like that they were leading 8-6.
In that sixth inning Will Venable opened things up with a two-run homer off of starter Yusmeiro Petit followed by a solo home run by Yasmani Grandal. Grandal would strike again in a major way in the seventh with a grand slam off of Jean Machi. At the moment that put the Padres ahead, but it wouldn’t be for long. Rene Rivera his a solo homer to push the lead to 8-6.
In the seventh inning though the San Francisco Giants composed themselves and retook the lead. Pablo Sandoval tallied his fourth RBI of the game on a single through the hole to the left of the shortstop followed by a frozen rope of a single by Brandon Belt to right field to tie the game at eight apiece. Matt Duffy would then lay down a safety squeeze to bring home Hunter Pence to put the Giants up 9-8.
Petit had a pretty good outing in his own right going 5.1 innings and allowing three runs on five hits. He racked up eight strikeouts to just one walk on the night. Unfortunately though his relatively short outing meant the bullpen had to eat some innings and in all it took seven guys to do so. In the end it was Santiago Casilla who picked up the save.
After the win the Giants sit one game back of the N.L. Wild Card lead and will be battling for home-field in what will be a great match-up against either the St. Louis Cardinals or Pittsburgh Pirates.