SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Brandon Belt is giving himself credit for a home run in the first inning, even though the wind held up his shot for a sacrifice fly. He had a good day regardless.
Belt was a homer short of the cycle and drove in five runs, Hunter Pence had two RBIs on three hits and the San Francisco Giants completed a three-game sweep by beating the San Diego Padres 13-9 on Wednesday.
“In my mind, that first one was a home run,” Belt said. “So in my mind, I hit for the cycle.”
Belt likes to kid around before a lot of games that “it’s a good day for a cycle.”
“A lot of guys did good things,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “Both teams’ offenses woke up. Give our guys credit for not chasing. It got contagious today.”
Jeff Samardzija (3-1) went 5 2/3 innings and snapped a tie with a two-run single for the Giants, who won their fifth in six games.
“It was fun to watch and fun to be a part of it,” Samardzija said. “Beltie is swinging it and so on down the line. You see their approach one through eight and they never try to do too much.”
Joe Panik, Brandon Crawford, Trevor Brown and Gregor Blanco also had RBIs for the Giants, who reached a season high in runs. Pence and Matt Duffy each had three hits.
“We did a lot of things well at the plate,” Duffy said. “Sacrifice flies and a lot of two-out hits.”
Samardzija won despite allowing a season-high five runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out a season-best seven.
Padres starter Andrew Cashner (1-2) couldn’t get out of the third inning, giving up six runs — three earned — on four hits over 2 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out a pair.
“I wasn’t locating the ball very well,” Cashner said. “Any time your team puts up nine runs you have to be more efficient. Too many free passes but overall I didn’t command my fastball today.”
Wil Myers hit a three-run homer and extended his hitting streak to 12 games to match a career high. Matt Kemp homered and drove in two runs for the Padres, who lost their fifth straight. Kemp had 10 RBIs in his first five games but just three over his previous 15.
Adam Rosales also hit one out, Jemile Weeks tripled in a run and Brett Wallace had a run-scoring double. Alexei Ramirez added a pair of hits.
The teams combined for three homers, four triples, three doubles and 15 singles.
Cashner, who also drove in a run, turned in his shortest outing since a two-inning stint at the Washington Nationals on July 5, 2013, and the Padres lost for the 12th time in their past 14 games in San Francisco.
TRAINER’S ROOM
Padres: LHP Robbie Erlin (left elbow sprain) took a break from his throwing program when he felt some discomfort. He’ll try again this weekend.
Giants: C Buster Posey was out of the starting lineup in hopes of giving him a two-day break from the rigors of catching.
UP NEXT
Padres: San Diego gets the day off Thursday. Cesar Vargas (0-0, 1.80) takes the ball for the second time as a major leaguer when the Padres open a three-game set at the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday night.
Giants: Following a day off Thursday, RHP Jake Peavy (1-1, 6.86) gets the start Friday night at the New York Mets.
