Padres outlast Giants 12-7 in re-vamped extra innings

For the second night in a row, the Padres gave up a big lead and found themselves in a 6-6 tie with the Giants in the ninth inning. But a resurgence in extra innings paced the way for their second series win of the season and a 12-7 victory on Thursday night.

This time around, it was San Diego that got on the board first. Ty France, who got the start today at first base, was able to scurry home on a wild pitch by SF starter Kevin Gausman from third early in the third inning.

One inning later, San Diego would tack on another pair of runs scored by CF Trent Grisham and 3B Manny Machado thanks in part to back-to-back singles by LF Tommy Pham and 2B Jurickson Profar which pushed the lead to 3-0.

It wasn’t until the bottom of the fifth inning that the Giants found themselves on the scoreboard after a sacrifice fly from 3B Evan Longoria that brought home CF Mike Yastrzemski, shrinking the lead down to two runs.

The Padres got their biggest surprise of the night when Profar smacked his first home run of the season - a two-run shot in the sixth - which upped the lead to 5-1 on the night. Through the first six games of the season, Profar was hitting a dismal .067 with only one hit through 15 at bats, so this a welcomed surprise.

SS Fernando Tatis Jr. got walked to begin the seventh inning and proceeded to steal second almost immediately. Grisham, who has been very impressive this season, doubled to right which brought junior home for their sixth run of the night. This would make it four games out of their first seven that the Padres have recorded at least six runs. In all but one, they’ve been able to score at least five.

Just like Wednesday night’s game, the Giants started their late rally in the seventh, scoring three runs to shrink the lead back to two runs while absorbing all of the momentum from San Diego. In nightmare fashion, the Giants loaded the bases before recording a single out. Drew Pomeranz, who has been very efficient lately, allowed the final two runs in that inning but to his credit, that’s a tough situation for anyone to throw themselves out of.

Now, desperately needing to swing things back in their favor, the Padres couldn’t muster an ounce of offense in the eighth. On the other side of the inning, the hemorrhaging continued for the Friars as they allowed another run whilst sitting with zero outs. After another runner scored on a sacrifice fly, the score was once again tied late at 6-6.

That’s some deja vu for ya.

The Giants fortunately were not able to pull out a walk-off and so for the first time this season, the Padres and Giants got to experience the new extra-innings rules. With a runner getting to start on second, the Padres played rejuvenated baseball en route to scoring six runs and giving the Giants a 12-6 hole to climb out of to win this game.

The Giants managed just a lone run in the final stanza, only scoring the runner that had started in scoring position.

Lamet pitched his expected five innings, allowing four hits, one run, and striking out seven for a respectable 1.80 ERA. Gausman went a little over four innings and allwoed six hits, three runs but struck out eight. He finished with a 5.40 ERA.

Pham led the Padres offensively with three hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored. Profar came up big with his first home run of the season while finishing with three RBIs and his own pair of runs scored.

Giants 2B Donovan Solano went 4-of-5 at the plate with three doubles on the night. He recorded two RBIs and a run scored.

The Padres travel to Colorado tomorrow to face the face the Rockies in a three-game series that starts at 5:10pm PT.