San Francisco Giants defeat D-backs: Panik has five hits

Yusmeiro Petit started for the Giants and pitched the complete game, retiring the first nine batters he faced, before giving up a fourth-inning leadoff home run to Ender Inciarte, as the San francisco Giants went on to defeat the Arizona Diamondbacks, 5-1, Tuesday night under cool skies at AT&T Park.

Joe Panik singled all five times he came to the plate, and Angel Pagan added four singles of his own, while scoring three runs, as the first two hitters in the Giants lineup combined to go nine for ten, collecting three-fourths of the Giants twelve hits. Yusmeiro added to the offensive effort with his first hit of the year, a high chopper that deflected off of Didi Gregorius’ glove into center field.

Petit, facing the same team that he almost threw the perfect game against a year ago, was dominant, having single-digit pitch counts in six of his first seven innings, totaling a minuscule 84 pitches over his outing. 

Conventional baseball wisdom dictates that fifteen pitches per inning is the norm, Dave Righetti prefers fourteen, but Petit was averaging 8.7 pitches per inning.

Here are some of Petit’s accomplishments on the night: 

He retired the first nine batters he faced

He threw a total of 84 pitches, six of his innings having a single-digit total

69 of his 84 pitches went for strikes

He faced two over the minimum

He started 26 of 29 batters with a strike

He never went to a three-ball count

He had nine strikeouts and no walks

Angel Pagan singled and scored in his first two at-bats, in the first and second innings, when the Giants scored three times, twice on bases-loaded walks and the third on a Buster Posey fielder’s choice. It was the ground attack in full operation. Later in the sixth, they would score again on a sacrifice fly and on a fielding error by Ender Inciarte, allowing Gregor Blanco to score the fourth run of the game. It was small ball at its best, and allowed the Giants to win their ninth in the last ten at AT&T Park.

Angel Pagan went four for five and scored three runs. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

The last time Wade Miley faced the Giants was Saturday, July 12th, at AT&T Park, when he shut them out for seven innings in a game the D-backs won 2-0. He did not fare as well this time out as he made it through only two innings, giving up three runs on five hits with four walks and a strike out. In contrast to Yusmeiro’s first two innings, in which he threw fifteen pitches, Miley threw 58 pitches.

The Giants left them loaded in both innings, so Miley did not have good stuff, but he had enough to keep the big hit at bay. He allowed three runs, but two were on walks and one was on a fielder’s choice. 

Zeke Spruill took over for Miley and pitched the third through sixth innings, giving up two runs, one unearned, on five hits, striking out four and walking none. Will Harris pitched the seventh and eighth, giving up Pagan’s fourth hit and Panik’s fifth, but keeping the Giants from scoring.

The victory, combined with a 6-3 loss by the Dodgers to San Diego, left the Giants only two-and-a-half back of LA in the National League West, with eighteen games to play. The Giants crept four games ahead of Pittsburgh in the wild card race.

San Francisco has won eleven of its last fourteen games, continuing its late-season surge. With two more games to go against the D-backs before this weekend’s first of two showdown-series with LA, the Giants need to keep the pressure on and keep the momentum rolling. Ryan Vogelsong goes for the Giants tomorrow night and Jake Peavy finishes out the series on Thursday.

San Francisco Giants second baseman Joe Panik (12) bats against the Washington Nationals at Nationals Park. Panik went five for five tonight. Mandatory Credit: Geoff Burke-USA TODAY Sports