Arizona Diamondbacks started their 2017 MLB season on the right foot by comeback multiple times against the San Francisco Giants, which included two runs in the ninth to take a 6-5 win.
Everything was going right for the Giants in the early parts of the game. Madison Bumgarner was dealing on the mound, outside of a three-run sixth inning, and hit two home runs as well.
But, just like last year, their bullpen struggled late, and new closer Mike Melancon could not seal the deal. He gave up the game-winning hit to Chris Owings two outs in the inning.
Giants jump ahead early
It took just two innings for the Giants to break the deadlock and they did it by playing some small ball.
The speedy Eduardo Nunez reached on an infield hit to set the table. Nunez showed off his speed on the base paths right away by getting into scoring position with Jarrett Parker batting. Then, the 28-year-old Parker and Joe Panik hit back-to-back sacrifices to score the Giants first run of the season.
The Giants opening day starter, Bumgarner, helped his own cause at the dish on two separate cases during the game. In the fifth and seventh innings, Bumgarner smacked solo home runs to left field to increase the lead to 3-0 and retake a 4-3 advantage respectively.
Arizona uses big inning to tie the game
After jumping out to a manageable 3-0 lead, the Diamondbacks fought their way back to tie the game up after Bumgarner coasted through the first five innings on the mound. What makes this comeback even more impressive was the fact that each of the three runs were scored with two outs in the inning.
Jeff Mathis broke up the no-hitter with a triple to get things in motion, and Nick Ahmed gave Arizona some life after singling in the veteran catcher. A.J. Pollack cemented the comeback with a blast off a Bumgarner fastball into the center field bleachers.
Trailing in the eighth inning, the Diamondbacks went to work on San Francisco’s bullpen. Derek Law gave up three straight base hits to Pollock, Owings and Paul Goldschmidt which brought the game level once more.
The Giants took revenge the following inning by taxing the Arizona bullpen in the top of the ninth. Panik led off the inning with a triple to put himself in prime position to give the Giants the lead again. And on the next batter, that happened, after Conor Gillaspie sacrafied him home to make it 5-4.
Bullpen issues plagued the Giants after the all-star break and so they splashed money on one of the best closers in the game today: Mark Melancon.
With only one out left in the game, he was roughed up by the part of the order that gave Bumgarner fits a few innings earlier. Mathis came up big with another extra base hit, this time, getting to second. Daniel Descalso and Pollack hit two singles in a row to load the bases.
Chris Owings dug in at the dish, and with two strikes on the shortstop, hit the game-winning hit into right field to give the Diamondbacks a big win.
Coming up
These two teams will commence the series on Tuesday after a day off tomorrow. There, we will see Johnny Cueto take on battle with Patrick Corbin with first pitch slated for 9:40 PM EST.