SAN FRANCISCO _ This appears to be an alternate universe.
The San Diego Padres, who began this season as baseball's most obvious rebuilders, won a 5-2 game Thursday at AT&T Park. The last-place San Francisco Giants, who began this season attempting to build on their storied history, dropped to five games behind the young team in the visiting clubhouse. One of its players sucked the air out of the building with a nighttime launch to rare territory.
San Diego improved to 7-3 against San Francisco in large part because of Cory Spangenberg. The third baseman broke a 2-2 tie in the seventh with a 428-foot home run to right-center. Madison Bumgarner was chased from the mound.
For Spangenberg, the two-run shot was his eighth home run of the season, and his third in five games. Including his first two at-bats Thursday, he had been 0-for-8 in his career with four strikeouts against Bumgarner.
The Giants ace had not been unscathed earlier in the game. While trade candidate Jhoulys Chacin put up zeroes, Bumgarner faltered in the top of the second.
Jabari Blash, who had homered off the Giants ace five days earlier, led off with a double to right-center. Up next, Hunter Renfroe swatted a drive over the left-field wall.
The two-run homer came in Renfroe's first at-bat off the disabled list. In a corresponding move, the Padres had placed center fielder Manuel Margot on paternity leave.
When Spangenberg later homered to the deepest part of the stadium, it marked the first time in Bumgarner's career that he had allowed multiple home runs in back-to-back games in a single season. In this particular year, that both starts had come against the Padres seemed fitting.
Chacin outdueled Bumgarner, throwing six innings of two-run ball for his eighth quality start in nine appearances. He did not allow a hit until the bottom of the fourth, which Denard Span led off with a double. He did not allow a run until the sixth.
After a leadoff double by Gorkys Hernandez, Span scored him with a single to right. He easily advanced to second as Renfroe airmailed a throw well over the head of the cutoff man. Eduardo Nunez then singled, driving in Span with the tying run.
It was a reminder that Renfroe, an immensely gifted rookie, has things to learn. Manager Andy Green has indicated that, even with Renfroe's return, Blash could continue receiving opportunities in right field.
Blash, who started in left field Thursday, is 11-for-24 with three doubles and two home runs since being called up from Triple-A El Paso.
"The Jabari I'm seeing right now is earning his right to be on the baseball field consistently," Green said before the game. "I don't mind watching guys compete for playing time. I'm actually excited by that prospect. With all the injuries we've had this year, that concept hasn't really been able to be embraced at all."
Wil Myers produced an insurance run in the eighth, ripping an RBI double to left. In the bottom of the inning, the Padres' biggest trade chip, Brad Hand, got himself into a bases-loaded jam. The lefty extracted himself by getting Buster Posey to fly out.
Another reliever who could be moved before August also encountered traffic. With two on and two out in the ninth, Brandon Maurer struck out Nick Hundley to collect the save.
