SAN DIEGO _ In a span of less than 10 minutes Saturday, Hunter Renfroe showed the splendor of what he has always been able to do and the payoff of what he has worked to be able to do.
In doing so, he helped the Padres to a 5-4 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Adam Cimber pitched two scoreless innings and got his first major-league victory, and Brad Hand got the final four outs for his second save in two nights and his sixth of the season.
The Giants scored three runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to take a 4-2 lead and chase Padres starter Clayton Richard. The Padres got a run back in the bottom of the fifth when A.J. Ellis scored from first base on Jose Pirela's second double of the game.
The Padres' hodgepodge lineup _ with Eric Hosmer, Austin Hedges and Carlos Asuaje all resting at the start _ had taken a 2-0 lead in the first inning. It was just the third time this season the Padres had scored in the first.
A Christian Villanueva homer was the second of those runs. The first run came on a sacrifice fly by Renfroe, driving in Pirela, who had doubled and gone to third on Freddy Galvis' fly out.
With seven RBIs in the past four games, Renfroe has moved into a tie with Villanueva for the team lead with eight.
Renfroe still gives way too many at-bats, is still a sucker for pitches he mistakenly thinks he can yank down the line.
The big swinger remains a work in progress, as virtually every major-league hitter is, especially a 26-year-old at the start of his second full season.
But Renfroe has of late been more patient, adjusted within games, has more often waited for his pitch to come.
His pitch in the seventh came in the form of a 90-mph sinker that didn't sink, and Renfroe lined it just over the wall in left field for a two-run homer that put the Padres ahead by the score that would stand as the final.
The big hit came just minutes after Renfroe had run up to grab a line drive and throw a laser to first baseman Christian Villanueva, who fired the relay to Ellis just in time to get Joe Panik, who had tagged up at third.
The catch was not of the highlight variety like a few Renfroe has had already this season, but he did read the bullet well. His reads, jumps and routes were a focus of extra work with outfield coach Skip Schumaker this spring.
And, as has been well documented, Renfroe's plate discipline has been the emphasis of his work with first-year hitting coach Matt Stairs.
Renfroe entered Saturday hitting just .179 and with a meager .256 on-base percentage. But there have been moments, especially this week, that demonstrate his growth.
On Tuesday, after two of his three at-bats in the game had been ugly strikeouts, Renfroe hit a three-run homer in the seventh that served as the game-winner in Colorado. Friday night, he doubled in his third at-bat. Saturday, his sacrifice fly in the first gave the Padres a lead, and he walked in the plate appearance preceding his homer.
It's a start.
As starts go, it's not bad that his home runs gave the Padres their final margins in two of their past three victories.
