San Francisco, Calif. -- The bats came alive and if you weren't there to see it, you maybe in disbelief. It's been no secret the Giants offense has struggled in producing hits and runs. Not sure if this is a turning point in a new direction, but it's definitely a good start.
"We're not a team that hits a lot of home runs," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think we're more of a team that has to execute and scratch for runs. Home runs are a luxury but a quality at bat is all we ask of."
It was a collective effort that resulted in at least five players with hits today. San Francisco not only split the two-game series but defeated the World Series champs, the St. Louis Cardinals 7-5. Just last night the Giants were desperate for some run support.
Brandon Belt doubled twice in both the sixth and seventh innings, which sparked the offense to take the lead and never look back. Emmanuel Burriss tied the game 4-4 with a sacrifice fly, one out later Belt scored on a fielding error by third baseman David Freese.
"I was being a little bit too aggressive and getting myself out a lot," Belt said. "I needed to pull back a little bit today and be more selective, and it worked."
Pinch-hitter Aubrey Huff grounded toward third and Freese overthrew first, which was one of three crucial errors made by the Cardinals that resulted in three unearned runs for the Giants. Today they recorded a season-high of seven runs at AT&T park.
"The errors gave them extra outs and caused [Wainwright] to throw extra pitches," manager Mike Matheny said. "That's not the kind of defense we are accustomed to seeing and when you make errors, that's when it seems like the ball drops in."
St. Louis got off to a good start but lost their momentum late. Matt Holiday hit his eighth home run and drove in three runs. Four of the Cardinals runs came in the first and third frames. Yadier Molina also belted a solo shot in the eighth inning.
Matt Cain tossed six innings, surrendering seven hits to the first 13 batters he faced but turned things around by retiring 10 of the last 11 players, including the last eight. He has given up five first inning runs over eight starts this season.
"I started out a little rough, I was all over the place a little bit," Cain said. "I wasn't making good quality pitches and they were taking advantage of it. But the guys hung in there with me and got the runs we needed to pull out the win."