San Francisco Giants & the Week That Was: Opening Week

Play(s) of the Week – A Triple Shot on Opening Day

This was supposed to be reserved for the single best play of the week, but a series of three consecutive plays on opening day was the biggest highlight of the week. There was some stiff competition, including Brandon Crawford‘s walk-off home run on Friday, Hunter Pence‘s Thursday grand slam, and some stellar defense from left fielder Angel Pagan, but Monday’s opening day back-to-back-to-back home runs took the honor.

On Monday, the Giants entered the eighth inning against the Brewers with a 7-3 lead, but the offense decided that wasn’t enough. After a one-out walk by Ehire Adrianza, which was followed by a single off the bat of Gregor Blanco, Denard Span, making his Giants’ debut, took Brewers’ reliever Ariel Pena out to deep right field for a three-run job. Joe Panik followed suit with another long shot to right, and on the very next pitch, Buster Posey made it a holy trio with a huge home run to center field. Those three blasts put the Giants ahead 12-3, which would eventually be the final score.

For the Giants, it was the first time the team hit home runs in three consecutive at-bats since July 20th, 2006, when Barry Bonds, Ray Durham, and Pedro Feliz all connected, coincidentally also in the eighth inning, against the San Diego Padres. It was also the first time a team went three deep on opening day since April 1st, 1997, when the Padres accomplished the feat at the New York Mets’ expense. It was Chris Gomez, pinch-hitter Rickey Henderson, and Quilvio Veras punishing Pete Harnish in the sixth inning for the only runs Harnish allowed in his five-plus innings of work.

Next: Enemy of the Week