Giants top Padres 2-1 behind Samardzija’s strong outing.
Samardzija throws 7 shutout innings, bullpen finishes job
SAN DIEGO — The Padres called up a flotilla of Chihuahuas before Thursday night’s series opener with the Giants. Their Triple-A club in El Paso won the Pacific Coast League championship, and three players from its roster made their first big league starts.
For the Giants, it doesn’t matter if they’re playing the Dodgers, the Chihuahuas or the Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars. Ever since the All-Star break, their greatest opponent has been themselves.
Their reflection did not haunt them in a 2-1 victory that kept them atop the N.L. wild card standings.
Jeff Samardzija threw seven shutout innings while matching his season high with nine strike-
outs, Joe Panik’s double washed away an 0 for 24 while starting a two-run rally in the eighth and Sergio Romo might have stamped himself as the closer once more after recording his second save in three days.
The Giants (81-72) remained tied in the N.L. wild card picture with the New York Mets, who erased two-run deficits in the ninth and 11th innings to beat the Phillies in dramatic fashion. The St. Louis Cardinals did not play and trail by a halfgame. In the N.L. West, the Dodgers won to maintain their six-game lead with nine to play.
“It’s been an interesting year,” said Panik, who had fallen into a second base platoon and was batting .239 before his key double. “You’re learning a lot about yourself on the field and off the field. You’re learning how to bring yourself back to normal.”
Back to normal has been a team-wide struggle, and nowhere are the Giants more desperate for a steady hand than the ninth inning. They had lost five games this month, and nine this season, that they led entering the ninth.
They might have an answer now. After Derek Law gave up a home run to Alex Dickerson in the eighth, Bruce Bochy entrusted the ninth to Romo, who had recorded his first save in more than a year on Tuesday at Dodger Stadium. Bochy let Romo face a pair of lefthanded batters, too.
One of them was Ryan Schimpf, who already had crushed the Giants once this month when he homered in the ninth inning of a loss Sept. 13 at AT&T Park. Lefthander Steven Okert, who gave up that homer, warmed up but did not enter.
Schimpf hit a bloop double off Romo with one out. But the right-hander placed his pitches from there. He got Hunter Renfroe, who hit 30 home runs for El Paso, to pop up while reaching for an outside slider. Then another left-handed hitter, Carlos Asuaje, grounded out to end it.
“He’s really responded well,” Bochy said of Romo. “So he had that inning.”
There is no questioning Romo’s resolve. He has a final-pitch highlight from the 2012 World Series to prove it.
“The main thing is he’s executing pitches,” catcher Buster Posey said. “He seems to have confidence, and he’s really executing pitches. … It can be a big boost for us.”
Samardzija has brought himself back to normal, too.
The last time the righthander pitched at Petco Park, on July 16, he was finding his way through the thickest part of a rough patch during which he posted a 6.99 ERA over an eight-start run.
In nine starts since then, Samardzija has a 2.40 ERA — a turnaround he credited to cleaner mechanics and more reliable action on a split-fingered fastball he has employed for early-count outs as much as its previous utility as a put-away pitch with two strikes.
“I’m going to throw my fastball in the zone and live and die by it,” Samardzija said. “When you’re attacking a lineup that’s seen you and had some success off you, you need to do something a little different. We threw a lot of sinkers late in counts.”
He appeared to have his entire arsenal at his employ against the Padres. Samardzija placed 95-mph fastballs to record three called strikeouts in the fourth inning, and then with the Padres in protection mode, he let them fish for his curve.
He allowed just one runner into scoring position all night, and that was Padres left-hander Christian Friedrich after he reached on Samardzija’s own throwing error to start the sixth inning.
“It’s a little different when it’s your own fault,” said Samardzija, who struck out Wil Myers and Schimpf to end the threat. “I just wanted to make sure I made a good pitch, and if they did something, it would be on a pitcher’s pitch.”
Said Posey: “Sometimes guys will find their heater in the second or third inning. I think he had it going out of the gate.”
In Samardzija’s previous start against the Cardinals, the Giants’ bullpen blew his victory. This time, the offense scored just in time to put him in position for one.
The Giants had just one hit entering the eighth, when Panik hit a towering drive to right-center that Renfroe’s glove before hopping over the fence for an automatic double. Tomlinson pinch-hit for Samardzija and fouled off a bunt attempt before sneaking a ground ball single through the left side to put runners at the corners.
Panik had to hold on Eduardo Núñez’s grounder to third, which resulted in a force out at second base. The Padres attempted to exploit a loophole and challenged Tomlinson’s slide, but replay officials did not change the call.
The Giants only needed a deep fly ball to score a run. Angel Pagan gave them something in between. His bloop single landed fair in the grass a foot from the chalk line in right field. Both runners had to hold until they were sure the ball wouldn’t be caught, and Renfroe showed off an electric arm when he threw to the plate.