AT&T PARK — Brandon Belt has trouble getting hits, but he got one when it mattered most.
Belt hit his first career game-winning RBI single in the bottom of the ninth of the Giants 5-4 come from behind win over the Diamondbacks:
Giants first baseman Brandon Belt
“It’s nice. I think when you’re on the bench you know you have a good shot at coming into the game at some time so you just kind of prepare and get ready the entire game whenever that time comes. You just try to make the best out of that opportunity.”
Buster Posey, who had not homered in the first three weeks of the season, has now hit two home runs in two games.
Posey hit the game tying two-run homer in the bottom of the eighth.
Ryan Vogelsong pitched seven innings allowing seven hits and four runs. Not his best outing, but Vogelsong said he felt good on the mound and encouraged by his teammates rallying for the walkoff victory:
Giants pitcher Ryan Vogelsong
“It was one of those things I kind of got behind early and this team plays with a lot of confidence. We just grind them out man, that’s what this team does, just grind them out, there’s no quit.”
Belt’s average dipped below .200 and he did not start Sunday or Monday night. Joaquin Arias started at first base in each of the last two games.
Down 2-0 and 4-2, this was the Giants’ first win of the season when trailing after seven innings. They’ve won seven straight along the shores of McCovey Cove, improving to 4-0 on the homestand.
Though AT&T Park is one of the toughest places to hit a home run, the Diamondbacks found an unlikely power source in starting pitcher Wade Miley.
That’s right, the opposing pitcher for Arizona crushed a Vogelsong fastball into deep right center to the arcade section nearly 400 feet away in the fifth inning.
Miley also shackled the Giants offense, at one point retiring 14 of 15 batters and pitching 6-2/3 innings scattering seven hits and two runs. But the bullpen blew the potential save.
Pablo Sandoval is a bad ball hitter, which means he can get a hit on any pitch whether or not it’s in the strike zone. Sandoval did exactly that following a double to left-center by Marco Scutaro. Sandoval hit a fastball down in the zone and pulled it into left field for another two base hit to bring in Scutaro.
Buster Posey hit his first home run of the season in Sunday’s finale vs. San Diego. Posey followed with a double off the archway in deep right center scoring Sandoval to tie the game.
Arizona took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first. Geraldo Parra singled to center, then Martin Prado singled to right putting runners at the corners. After a walk to Paul Goldschmidt loaded the bases, former Giant Cody Ross hit a bloop single just over the reach of Scutaro for a two run single.
Former Athletic Eric Chavez hit his 250th career home run to the opposite field in left center in the sixth inning.
Arizona manager Kirk Gibson — a fiery competitor as a player — was especially short in his post-game gathering with reporters following this loss:
“We played a good ballgame. It was a game we should’ve won. Our bullpen’s been good for us and we’ve got to make better pitches when it counts. We wanted to close this game out is what we wanted to do.”
Tuesday night, Matt Cain (0-2, 7.15) will try to get his first win of 2013 against Arizona left-hander Patrick Corbin (2-0, 1.42). First pitch at 7:15 p.m. Due to the Warriors-Nuggets game, the telecast will be on CSN Bay Area Plus, Comcast 780 and DirecTV 697-1 in HD.
Notes
Counting his game-winner, Belt has six hits in his last 25 at-bats. … It was the 6th comeback win for the Giants this season. … First base coach Roberto Kelly is away in Panama to attend a family graduation and should return by Friday in San Diego. The interim replacement for Kelly is Shawon Dunston. … Ross was the 2010 NLCS MVP and Monday marked his first return to San Francisco since he left for Boston as a free agent following the 2011 season.
