Giants pummeled by Padres in series finale

All good things must come to an end. Today, all those good things the Giants had going came crashing down in a matter of minutes.

The five-game win, eight-game home-win, and 29 shutout-inning streaks all decidedly came to an end in the Padres’ half of the third. San Diego rallied for six hits and five runs off starter Chris Heston (L, 2-3, 5.03 ERA) to seal a 9-1 win over the Giants on an otherwise bright Wednesday afternoon.

Those 29 innings of shutout baseball started with Tim Lincecum‘s start against the Angels on May 3, extended through Madison Bumgarner and Ryan Vogelsong‘s stellar starts against the Padres in the days to follow, and ended in the third inning today, when Matt Kemp sent an RBI double to score Cory Spangenberg.

The runs kept pouring from there: Yonder Alonso, Jedd Gyorko, Alexi Amarista, and Austin Hedges — for his first MLB hit — all tallied RBIs in the third.

Heston said after the game he was giving the Padres gifts with his predictable and prevalent inside sinker:

“That third inning got to me and I wasn’t able to battle back … I need to command the outside of the plate.”

He added later:

“I just have to make adjustments in the moment instead of after.”

Chris Heston wasn’t fooling the Padres, whose powerful lineup finally broke through today. Spangenberg went 3-for-4 with a walk, Wil Myers went 3-for-6. Justin Upton was walked four times for the first time in his career.

Heston lasted five innings and gave up 11 hits and five runs in an outing very much defined by that third inning frenzy.

Photos by Scot Tucker/SFBay

Manager Bruce Bochy saw a silver lining:

“He did battle through and he found a way to give us five innings.”

The Padres tacked on an extra four runs against a usual brick wall bullpen. They plated three off Jean Machi and one more off Javier Lopez, who had only allowed one run in his past 12 appearances.

Bochy stayed positive in light of the unusual bullpen meltdown:

“These guys have off days.”

Giants bats faced a familiar face in Ian Kennedy (W, 2-1, 3.38 ERA) and sunk back into their hitting hole. Brandon Belt had himself a day, going 2-for-3 with a triple and a double.

Matt Duffy continues to prove his worth in spots for Casey McGehee. He tallied two hits of his own today against Kennedy, motivated by the team’s recent winning ways:

“Kennedy is always going to be aggressive, he has strikeout stuff … Down five nothing we didn’t feel like we were out of the game.”

Rather odd that Buster Posey had his day of rest today, since he’s batting a career .405 against Kennedy. The Brandons took over the heart of the lineup today after Crawford proved his worth in the five-spot last night. Crawford struggled today, going 0-for-3.

Also gone with today’s loss was the chance at the club’s third consecutive sweep at home; a feat not accomplished by the Giants since 2011 against Colorado, Arizona and Oakland.

The Giants will start their four-game series against the Miami Marlins tomorrow at 7:15 p.m.