Game Wrap 4/12/2015: Padres 6 Giants 4

This game swung in one horrible pitch by an exhausted Jake Peavy in the 4'th inning that resulted in a grand slam HR by backup catcher, Wil Nieves.  Ballgame!  Key Lines:

Norichika Aoki- 2 for 5.  BA= .400.  Aoki has been everything the Giants hoped they were getting and more so far.  And yes, the Padres abused him with a barrage of hard hit balls to LF throughout this series, but he seems to be a gamer and keeps playing hard no matter the situation.

Buster Posey- 1 for 3, HR(2), BB.  BA= .292.  Little things can turn a ballgame.  Aoki had singled to lead off the 7'th inning.  With Panik batting, Bochy played hit and run, but Panik popped it up to the SS and Aoki was hung out to dry with no way to get back to 1B.  Posey's dinger became a solo shot instead of a 2 or 3 run job.  Not saying Aoki should not have been running.  Panik hits a ton of groundballs.  It just didn't go the Giants way and was a difference maker in the game.

Justin Maxwell- 0 for 2, 2 BB,  BA= .273.  One of Maxwell's walks led to a run, and he made a nice leaping catch at the wall to take away a HR or at least extra bases.

Jake Peavy- 4 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 BB, 5 K.  ERA= 9.00.  Peavy started the game looking terrific as he struck out the first 2 batters and finished the inning 1,2,3 on 14 pitches.  Then Kemp led off the 4'th inning by beating an extreme shift on a ball hit to the right side.  Upton walked.  After Alonso flied out, Middlebrooks hit a pop up to right-center that Blanco got a very bad jump on. If fell for a single to load the bases.  Peavey mustered enough stuff to strike out Amarista, but was clearly tiring fast.  He got to 3-2 on Nieves then threw a slider that backed up and in.  Nieves tomahawked it down the line and it cleared the fence by a good 3-4 feet, well out of Aoki's reach.

Craig Kimbrel(Padres)- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K, Save(1).  ERA= 0.00.  Kimbrel is a terrific pitcher who needs no help from the umpire.  Not saying it was a difference maker at all, but I counted at least 3 pitches to the first two Giants batters in the 9'th inning that appeared to be definitely out of the strike zone to my eye watching on HDTV.

The Loss dropped the Giants record to 3-4 and into last place in the NL West, 1.5 games behind the Division leading Rockies who lost their second game in a row to the Cubs, 6-5 in extra innings.  The Rockies record now stands at 4-2.  The Padres moved into second place with a 4-3 record while the D'Backs and Dodgers are tied for 3'rd place with 3-3 records after a late D'Backs rally fell short for a 7-4 Dodgers win.

The Giants now finally come home for their Home Opener and Flag Raising Ceremony at AT&T Park tomorrow afternoon against the first place Rockies with Chris Heston facing Eddie Butler.

Brandon Belt played today and had a base hit.  Casey McGehee was diagnosed with a bone bruise on his left knee and is day-to-day.  Matt Duffy played 3B today in place of McGehee.