SAN FRANCISCO _ The magic that led to a four-game winning streak on the road for the San Francisco Giants evaporated Friday night in a 9-4 loss to the St. Louis Cardinals at Oracle Park.
The Cardinals started quickly with a pair of tape measure home runs by Jose Martinez (his eighth) and Paul Goldschmidt (his 15th) against Giants starter and loser Drew Pomeranz (2-9). Before the night was over, the Cardinals added on two triples, a double and a ninth-inning home run by Dexter Fowler (his 10th) before a crowd of 37,603.
The Giants, meanwhile, reached St. Louis starter Dakota Hudson (7-4) for a pair of first inning runs, but showed little of the firepower that showed up with 40 runs in their four-game win streak in Arizona and San Diego.
Alex Dickerson had a solo home run for the Giants (39-48) in the third inning, his fourth of the season.
Shut out from the fourth through the eighth innings, the Giants scored in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by pinch hitter Stephen Vogt.
A run-scoring triple by Fowler against Mark Melancon and an RBI single by Kolton Wong against Derek Holland gave Arizona an 8-3 lead in the seventh inning.
The Cardinals (44-42) took a 6-3 lead on hard luck reliever Trevor Gott, who got mostly ground balls that resulted in a run-scoring single by Matt Wieters and an RBI fielders choice by Wong.
Pomeranz had been a mystery in his home park to hitters in June, giving up two earned runs in 20 innings with eight walks and 30 strikeouts. He was an open book to the Cardinals in his first July start.
Martinez got it started with a one-out tape-measure homer midway up the stands in left center. Paul DeJong followed with a single and Goldschmidt hit a home run to deep center field measured at 449 feet.
The Cardinals didn't score again until the fourth, when Wong doubled and was tripled home by Tommy Edman. When Pomeranz was lifted for a pinch hitter, he'd given up six hits _ four for extra bases _ and walked four with three strikeouts.
Hudson struggled also struggled early, loading the bases with no one out with two walks and a single to Buster Posey,. He almost got out of it, getting Dickerson to fly to shallow left and striking out Evan Longoria. But Brandon Crawford worked Hudson for a bases loaded walk and Kevin Pillar grounded a single to left to cut the St. Louis lead to 3-2.
By the time the first inning had ended, Pomeranz and Hudson had combined for 70 pitches, 33 by Pomeranz and 37 by Hudson.
The Giants tied it in the third on Dickerson's fourth home run, a 386-foot shot to right center field.
