Game Wrap 3/31/2014: Giants 9 D'Backs 8

Buster Posey capped a furious Giants comeback from 6-2 and 7-3 deficits with a monstrous 2 run homer in the top of the 9'th inning.  Sergio Romo then held off the Dangerous D'Backs in the bottom of the 9'th for the Save.  Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 2 for 5, 2B.  Pagan looked bad in his first AB against Brandon McCarthy, striking out, but came back to score a run and drive in 2 in the Giants epic comeback.

Brandon Belt-  3 for 5, HR(1).  Belt had a rough day in the field and struck out in his first two AB's, but redeemed himself with with a long HR to RF and 2 other hits scoring a total of 3 runs in the game.

Buster Posey- 2 for 5, HR(1).  Buster also did not look so hot in his first couple of AB's, but hit a scorching single to LF and then crushed a ball that hit the facade of the second deck of the LF bleachers for the game winning HR.  He also gunned down Cliff Pennington on a strike 'em out/throw 'em out to shut down a potential D'Backs rally.

Brandon Crawford- 2 for 4, 2B.  Crawford had a nice game.  The double was crushed to dead CF and banged off the wall.

Ehire Adrianza- 1 for 2, 2B.  IMO, Adrianza had THE key hit of the entire game!  The Giants were down 7-3 in the 7'th.  Morse had opened the inning with a single, but Crawford flied out and Arias hit into a force.  With 2 outs and the rally looking like it was dead, Adrianza came up as a pinch hitter took some nice looking hacks and eventually turned on a pitch, scorching it down the RF line into the corner for a double that scored Arias from 1B.  He then came home on Pagan's double and the rally that tied the game was on.  Adrianza took some pretty good looking swings in his second AB too.  He definitely looks like he's up there intending to do some damage with that bat.  He also seems to have some clutchiness to him.  Love this kid!

Madison Bumgarner- 4 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 0 ER, 2 BB, 3 K's.   Bumgarner wasn't the sharpest I've seen him by any stretch, but his defense let him down in the 4'th.  Belt muffed a groundball to open the inning then Sandoval bobbled a potential DP ball, then pulled Crawford off the bag with a hurried throw.  2 runners on, nobody out on 2 consecutive errors.  That is a recipe for disaster in that ballpark and it ate Bumgarner up.  He got out of the inning with 4 unearned runs allowed but by then his pitch count was way up there and he was lifted for a PH in the top of the 5'th.

Yusmeiro Petit- 2 IP, 6 H, 3 R, 1 BB, 2 K's.  Not a great pitching line for Petit, but it could have been a whole lot worse as he pitched his way out of a bases loaded no out jam in the 5'th after 2 runs had already scored.  On a night when the ball was carrying and the infield was playing like the I-5 truck lane, Petit did well to limit the damage.

Jean Machi- 1.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 3 K's.  Machi was the pitching hero of this one as he shut down the D'Backs on a crazy night and preserved the tie long enough for Buster to unleash his power.  Machi gets a very well deserved W.

Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 2 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K.   Romo did not start off well, allowing a solo HR to Montero to start the bottom of the 9'th.  He then gave up a bunt hit to Owings that Pablo probably should have fielded.  After Owings was sacrificed to 2'nd, up came Eric Chavez, who you might remember as the guy who broke up Petit's perfect game last year.  Romo struck him out with a very gutsy changeup.  Getting the RH hitting AJ Pollack was then a piece of cake to end the game.

The Win puts the Giants into a tie for first place in the NL West with the San Diego Padres percentage points up on the 2-1 Dodgers.  The Padres and Dodgers were idle today.  The Colorado Rockies were clobbered 10-1 by the Miami Marlins and are a game back, and of course the D'Backs lost and are 0-3, 2 games off the pace.

Matt Cain takes on Wade Miley tomorrow evening in Arizona.