He’s struggled all season.
But Sunday afternoon at AT&T Park, Hunter Pence, sub-.200 batting average and all, played the hero, lacing an 11th-inning double past Eric Hosmer to plate two and give the Giants a win to put them above .500 once again.
The day started inauspiciously for rookie starter Dereck Rodriguez, who conceded a leadoff homer to Manuel Margot. The Giants were unable to threaten Padres starter Eric Lauer seriously until the fourth, when Andrew McCutchen and Buster Posey posted back-to-back one-out singles, but Brandon Crawford grounded into a double play to end the inning.
But Gorkys Hernandez answered the call in the sixth, launching a line drive to left-center that skipped off the top of the wall and went over for a game-tying home run.
Gorkys ties the game! pic.twitter.com/BVs6EUHQNT
— SF Giants on NBCS (@NBCSGiants) June 24, 2018
The home run was Hernandez’s ninth of the season after hitting just two in the 2016 and 2017 seasons combined with the Giants.
Rodriguez limited the Padres’ scoring to just Margot’s leadoff home run, allowing just four hits and one walk in seven innings pitched. Lauer was similarly impressive, holding the Giants to five hits and one walk.
Each team’s bullpen contributed three shutout innings of largely dominant shutout relief until the 10th, when Joe Panik led off the inning with a double. None of Alen Hanson, pinch-hitter Austin Slater, or Hernandez was able to score Panik in the inning.
The Padres had better luck in the 11th. Reyes Moronta walked Margot, who advanced to second on Eric Hosmer’s groundout and stole third on Moronta’s wild pitch. Moronta then retired Hunter Renfroe, but with two out, Ty Blach replaced Moronta and conceded a single to Cory Spangenberg, which scored Margot to put the Padres up 2-1.
The Giants loaded the bases in the 11th with a McCutchen double, Posey intentional walk, and Crawford hit by pitch to set the stage for Pence’s game-winning double.