SAN FRANCISCO — A sellout crowd of 40,645 was treated to a dramatic finish to the first game of the year on the shores of McCovey Cove, beneath blue skies with a brisk breeze blowing out to right field on an otherwise pleasant spring afternoon.
Thairo Estrada raised both arms above his head in celebration as he chugged into second base, turning to watch Matt Chapman race the relay throw from Padres shortstop Ha-Seong Kim.
Chapman slid headfirst into home, sneaking past the tag of catcher Luis Campusano and sending the capacity crowd home happy.
The Giants walked off the Padres, 3-2, to snap a four-game losing streak and pick up their first one-run win of the season.
Estrada delivered the decisive hit, sending a double into left-center field after San Diego reliever Enyel De Los Santos hit Chapman to put the first batter he faced on base.
Making his second start, Jordan Hicks pitched deeper into the game than he had in any previous career start, receiving a rousing ovation as he walked off the mound after the top of the seventh inning.
Reaching back for his fastest pitch of the afternoon, a 99 mph heater, against his final batter, Hicks limited the Padres to two runs (one earned) on five hits. He struck out five batters and didn’t throw a fourth ball to any of them, finding the strike zone on 61 of his 91 pitches.
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But Hicks didn’t factor into the decision, leaving the game with the score tied 2-2.
The hot bat Michael Conforto brought with him on the opening road trip accompanied him back to San Francisco. Raising his batting average to .433 and his OPS to 1.336, Conforto doubled home Jung Hoo Lee to get the Giants on the board in the bottom of the first, finishing 3-for-4 with another double.
Lee drew a leadoff walk in his first plate appearance at Oracle Park, making that seven of his first eight games that he has safely reached base, and a free pass to LaMonte Wade Jr. to lead off the sixth also led to a run, but the Giants’ only other base runner until the ninth came on a well-struck single from Patrick Bailey.
Under Bob Melvin last year, the Padres were historically bad in close games, going 9-23 in those decided by one run. The Giants, on the other hand, went 25-19 in those contests but were off to an 0-2 start this year.