San Francisco Giants Beat Tigers behind Pence’s bat

The San Francisco Giants got back on track with a 5-4 win against the Detroit Tigers.

The San Francisco Giants got out to an early start. After wasting a comeback effort in yesterday’s game, the Giants seemed urgent to get out ahead earlier. In the third inning, the floodgates finally opened.

Kelby Tomlinson got home on a Hunter Pence groundout, and Jae-Gyun Hwang followed up with another single to make it 2-0. After a good shut-down inning from Ty Blach, After a Nick Hundley double and a Kelby Tomlinson walk, Brandon Belt singled Hundley home. Then, Pence stepped back up to the plate.

Pence hit a liner into the gap in right-center that was quick enough to get past Mikie Mahtook and to the wall, but slow enough for Pence to get all the way to third without a slide or a competitive throw. The bases clearing triple put the Giants up 5-0, and had them sitting pretty comfortable.

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Trouble began in the seventh when Ty Blach got tagged for two runs before an out was even recorded. George Kontos, Steven Okert and Corey Gearrin combined to allow two more runs, before Gearrin got Justin Upton to strike out swinging, ending the Tigers threat.

Hunter Strickland came in for the eighth and was OK, but gave up a big double to Victor Martinez with two outs. Mahtook came up whiffing at Strickland’s high fastball, unable to catch-up ending that threat.

The Giants threatened a bit in the top of the ninth, but Buster Posey‘s GIDP ended that threat, Sam Dyson came in and got his third save, clinching the Giants’ 5-4 win.

Three Things:

1. Pence is back. That is all
2. The bullpen needs clean slates. They do well when they don’t have to walk into trouble. It’s always going to be a wild one when they walk into an inherited runners situation. The more times they come in with a clean slate, the better they perform. That has a bit to do with Bruce’s management, and he’s gotten it wrong a lot in the last year or two.
3. Hwang can stay. While Nunez is good, Hwang’s play at both the plate and in the infield might just give the Giants the green light to trade Nunez. If they feel Hwang can make his home there, the only spot for Arroyo is as a backup infielder, or at second base if they choose to trade Panik, who could grab a decent haul.

Next: Giants draft picks making noise early

The Giants take on the Tigers in their rubber match tomorrow at 10:10 am. You can catch that on NBCSBA, or KNBR 680