It appeared as though a 7th inning rain delay would cost the Giants on Friday night, but a rally in the 9th gave San Francisco a 6-5 lead it would hold onto for a victory in the series opener against the St. Louis Cardinals.
Cardinals closer Seung-Hwan Oh entered with a one-run lead in the 9th and gave up a leadoff single to Brandon Belt. Brandon Crawford singled two batters later, and Eduardo Nuñez followed with a two-run double that put the Giants up 6-5 and proved to be the game-winner. The Giants have now won two road games in a row where they entered the 9th inning trailing. Before a comeback against the Mets last week, it had been two years since San Francisco rallied to win while trailing after 8 innings.
Both starting pitchers came out of the gate efficiently and retired their opponents easily in the first few innings. Rain began to fall in the 3rd inning, right around the time when the Cardinals first got themselves on the scoreboard. Dexter Fowler hit a leadoff triple off Matt Moore to kick off the inning and was sacrificed home on a flyout by Tommy Pham.
The Giants’ bats continued to be stifled through the first half of the game, and St. Louis tacked on another run in the bottom half of the 6th after Jedd Gyorko hit a one-out triple. Yadier Molina doubled him home to extend the lead to 2-0.
Cardinals’ starter Michael Wacha was pulled at the start of the 7th inning and finished his day with six scoreless innings and just four hits allowed. His replacement, Jonathan Broxton, quickly dug the Cardinals a hole. Broxton allowed two singles to lead off the inning before being replaced by Matt Bowman.
From there, the Giants used their signature small-ball style to push three runs across and take the lead. With runners on first and third, Mac Williamson hit a ground ball to Gyorko, who booted it and allowed a run to cross. Denard Span added an RBI single and Joe Panik grounded out with two runners on to sacrifice the third run of the inning home.
But the rain returned just as St. Louis manager Mike Matheny was ejected for arguing with umpires after Buster Posey and Belt walked on back-to-back at-bats to load the bases with two outs. The tarp came out, and the 7th inning delay lasted a little more than 30 minutes.
When play resumed, Crawford flew out almost instantly to end the rally. The delay also knocked Moore out of the game, whose final line was six innings and two earned runs allowed. Steven Okert began the bottom of the 7th on the mound for San Francisco. He walked the leadoff batter and allowed a single, and was then replaced by George Kontos.
The first batter Kontos faced, Dexter Fowler, knocked a three-run homer to give St. Louis a 5-3 lead. Fowler finished with a 2-for-3 performance and scored two runs.
In the 8th inning, the Giants got a run back on three singles, including an RBI knock from Denard Span. Span’s RBI single inched San Francisco closer and ultimately got them close enough to strike in the 9th.
Christian Arroyo and Span recorded two hits each, while Belt and Crawford each finished with three hits.
Closer Mark Melancon made his first appearance in his return from the DL in the bottom of the 9th and allowed a leadoff single before getting out of the inning thanks to a game-ending double play.
The series resumes tomorrow at 4:15 p.m. PST when Jeff Samardzija (1-5. 5.26 ERA) will take on Carlos Martinez (3-3, 3.88 ERA).