SAN FRANCISCO — Without his top three relievers on Monday night, Padres manager Bob Melvin saw other picks lead the Padres to a crushing loss. A night later, Melvin got a closer look at his All-Star doing it.
The Giants won their ninth in a row and made another comeback when Josh Hader beat Joc Pederson with two outs and the bases loaded in the ninth. The 4-3 win gave the Giants nine games over .500 and gave them a full game over the first-place Diamondbacks.
The final winning rally started with a walk by Luis Matos with one out in the ninth. After Patrick Bailey doubled a single the other way, Melvin called Hader. The Giants responded with Casey Schmitt, who had been walked all season entering this series, but tied his second ninth-inning walk in two days. After a strikeout, Pederson also took a bye, giving the Giants another win on a night they trailed most of the game.
Fernando Tatis Jr. reached his first three hits and homered in the fifth that gave the Padres a 3-1 lead, but the Giants fell back again late in the inning. They led the Majors in points from the seventh inning, and they almost opened the game once he reached the seventh.
A walk and two singles charged the bases with no outs, but Manny Machado made an athletic play to convert two on a Patrick Bailey pitch at third. Machado walked on base and then made a perfect pitch home for a second out. The Giants had a run, as Brandon Crawford bounced a single down the middle, and they would soon tie the game.
Pederson only had one thing on his mind as he strolled down the bottom of the eighth, and when Nick Martinez slotted a cutter, Pederson hit a right moonshot. The outburst was his eighth of the season.
Platoon Superstar
In the ninth inning on Monday, the Giants sent Austin Slater for a pinch hit, knowing it would knock Tim Hill out of the game. When Hill got the seventh on Tuesday, Slater got the chance to face him after replacing Michael Conforto.
Slater walked the first time, continuing an incredible run against left-handed pitchers. He has now faced 33 and reached base 17 times, with 15 hits and two walks. He also does well against right-handers, and in 22 games he has a .423 ERA and .464 on-base percentage. At the moment, he is one of the best specialists in the National League.
The recruits
If Matos’ career goes as everyone hopes, Seth Lugo could one day be a trivial matter. Matos had zero strikeouts in his first 21 major league plate appearances, but Lugo swung it in the second with a nasty curveball that slumped up and away from the rookie outfielder. Matos bounced back quickly, getting a single on his third at bat, then drawing that big walk on the ninth. It ended up being the winning race.
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The top rookie of the night was Tristan Beck, who pretty much replicated Keaton Winn’s huge performance from a night earlier.
Beck threw three shutout innings to keep the Giants in the game, ending his night blowing 95 mph past Trent Grisham with a runner.
Lots of action
The hits column — eight in five innings — would indicate Anthony DeSclafani had a rough night. Walks (one) and strikeouts (six) would indicate a good night. In the end, he met in the middle.
DeSclafani struck out four of the first seven Padres but then had a lot of traffic behind him in his final three innings. He ended up being charged with three earned runs.
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