More often than not, the Padres and Giants are going to play a close game in San Francisco. Only six times in their last 26 meetings at Oracle Park has the game been decided by more than four runs. So, of course the Giants home opener was tight.
Just like the Padres did in their first game at Petco Park, the Giants came from behind to win. Thairo Estrada lined a double to left-centerfield to score Matt Chapman in the bottom of the 9th to give the G-men a 3-2, walkoff win and snap their 4-game losing streak.
Dylan Cease got the start for the Friars and was staked to a 1-0 lead thanks to a 1st inning single by Jake Cronenworth that brought home Xander Bogaerts. The Giants tied it in the bottom half on an RBI double by Michael Conforto but other than that it was not a lot of hard contact against Cease, who was staked to another lead in the top of the 3rd inning.
Fernando Tatis Jr. lined a single to right field to score rookie Jackson Merrill and make it 2-1. The inning ended, however, when Cronenworth grounded into a double play. The Padres didn’t score again off Giants starter Jordan Hicks.
San Francisco tied it in the 6th when Chapman grounded out softly to 3rd base to bring in Conforto. All in all it wasn’t a bad outing for Cease, who allowed two runs and struck out seven over 6.0 innings. But, both of those runs were put on base by walks. A free pass of a different kind got them in the 9th.
Enyel De Los Santos hit Chapman with an errant fastball, setting up Estrada’s heroics. The Padres try to even the series on Saturday night when Michael King gets his 2nd San Diego start against Keaton Winn.
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