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SAN FRANCISCO — It didn’t seem like much at the time, with Hunter Pence hitting a bloop single just over the head of shortstop J.T. Riddle on Wednesday to bring home Nick Hundley with an eighth-inning insurance run for the Giants against the Miami Marlins.
It became clear to the crowd of 35,903 at AT&T Park just how important that run was as newly anointed closer Sam Dyson couldn’t get through the ninth inning. Reyes Moronta needed to come in and get the final out in a 6-5 win as the Giants won two of three games on the opening series of a 10-game homestand.
Whatever bad blood existed between the two teams following the Hunter Strickland implosion on Monday and the beanball war Tuesday night was at least temporarily put on hold.
“Back to baseball,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.
Which didn’t mean it was easy against a 29-46 Miami team that had gotten under the Giants’ skin.
The Giants looked to be in control after a five-run sixth inning against Miami starter Jose Urena (2-9), who had breezed through the first five innings on just 60 pitches.
Giants starter Derek Holland (5-7) and relievers Tony Watson and Ty Blach put the Giants in position for the win.
Yet had it not been for a hustling double by Hundley in the eighth — he went to third on an error — and Pence’s well-placed single — the game may have gone into extra innings.
Dyson, pitching for the third straight day, had a 6-3 lead and gave up a single to Miguel Rojas to open the inning. He struck out Yadiel Rivera, and Derek Dietrich hit a fly to deep center that Gorkys Hernandez lost in the sun with the ball bouncing over the fence. Instead of two outs and a runner on first, the Marlins had runners on second and third with one out.
Starlin Castro followed with a sacrifice fly to make it 6-4. Brian Anderson grounded a single, scoring Dietrich, and the Marlins were within 6-5. When J.T. Realmuto singled to left center, sending Anderson to second, Bochy lifted Dyson after 25 pitches in favor of Reyes Moronta.
Moronta struck out J.P. Shuck for his first big league save.
Exhale.
“His pitches were getting up there, and it caught up with him,” Bochy said of Dyson. “Tough break on the sun ball, but you’re forced to make a move at that point with Reyes. He’s done a lot of closing in the minor leagues and has the weapons to do it.”
The key to the win was a big sixth inning from a lineup that was resting both Buster Posey and Andrew McCutchen against a pitcher in Urena who was dominant through five innings.
Included was a ground rule double by Brandon Belt to drive in a run, a run-scoring fielder’s choice delivered by Mac Williamson, a slicing single to right by Pence to bring in a run and finally a huge, 14-pitch at-bat by Hernandez that resulted in a two-run single.
Bochy called the hit “the key to the game,” and Belt said, “Awesome at-bat, and we needed those runs, too.”
The hit by Hernandez pushed Urena’s pitch count to 39 for the inning, with Don Mattingly removing him in favor of Adam Conley.
“We made him come to us a little more,” Belt said. “Earlier in the game he was getting us out with balls we were chasing out of the zone a little bit.”
— Pence was in a 1-for-18 slump before delivering his hit.
“I feel really fresh, so that’s kind of nice with this new role,” Pence said. “It’s one of the good parts of it. Get out there and compete and found a way to get some knocks today.”
— Holland worked from the first base side of the rubber for the third base side and thought it made a difference, although he declined to say why he switched.
“Just trying something different,” Holland said.
— Utility player Alen Hanson fouled a ball off his left knee during his first at-bat and had to be helped off the field by Bochy and trainer Dave Groeschner. X-rays were negative, but he has a knee contusion.
The Giants will wait and see how he feels Thursday before determining whether to send Kelby Tomlinson back to Triple-A Sacramento with shortstop Brandon Crawford coming off paternity leave.
— Jeff Samardzija has a rehab start for Triple-A Sacramento on Thursday night where he will throw 60 to 70 pitches.
— Belt was at his deadpan best when addressing his play since returning from his appendectomy.
“I do not need an appendix. In fact, it slowed me down,” Belt said. “Glad I got rid of it.”
As for future organ removals, Belt said, “There are a lot of people having their gall bladder out. Maybe that’s next.”
Regarding Hernandez and his 14-pitch at-bat, Belt, who had a 21-pitch at-bat earlier this season, said, “That was cute. I remember my first 14-pitch at-bat.”
