SAN DIEGO _ The last time the San Francisco Giants arrived at Petco Park, they were a relatively sleepy bunch that appeared to have a better chance of earning a top five pick in next year's draft than earning a 2019 postseason berth.
A team that carried the worst batting average in franchise history awoke San Diego's Gaslamp District with fireworks during the first week of July, exploding for 30 runs in a three-game sweep of the Padres.
The Giants' sudden breakthrough set the stage for their best month in three years, but as July comes to a close, the lineup is starting to cool off.
The offense might be cold, but the Giants are still red-hot.
With an 11th inning, right-handed solo shot into the left field bleachers, Pablo Sandoval lifted the Giants to their fifth extra-inning win in the last eight days as they outlasted the Padres 2-1.
After entering the game in the ninth inning as a pinch-hitter, Sandoval led off with a double against Padres closer Kirby Yates. The Giants couldn't advance him home from second, so Sandoval did it all by himself in his next at-bat.
His 365-foot home run off Padres rookie Logan Allen gave the Giants their sixth extra-inning win since the All-Star break and helped the club improve to 17-4 in the month of July.
In the bottom of the eighth inning, Giants second baseman Donovan Solano snared a 111-mile per hour lineout off the bat of Fernando Tatis, Jr. to take away a hit from the Padres rookie. In the bottom of the ninth inning, center fielder Kevin Pillar made a leading grab at the wall to rob Padres left fielder Will Myers of extra bases.
Both plays were exceptional, but the catch of the night belonged to a Giants fan donning a Willie Mays jersey who caught Sandoval's 11th inning home run bare-handed while holding a sleeping baby.
The baby did not wake up, but the rest of the Giants fans in attendance did, roaring with excitement as Sandoval rounded the bases.
Jeff Samardzija was on the mound the night the Giants arrived in San Diego and the right-hander helped save an exhausted bullpen with eight innings of two-run ball in the blowout victory. He returned to Petco Park Friday for his fifth start in July and again pitched well, allowing just one run over six solid innings of work.
Samardzija lowered his ERA to 2.48 for the month and put his team in position to win, but the support he received on Friday was a sharp contrast from the 13 runs the Giants scored in their July 1 victory.
Offense was hard to come by for San Francisco, but the Giants did score with two outs in the top of the third when Solano crushed an offering from Padres starter Joey Lucchesi high off the center field wall. Solano missed a home run by three feet, but he was still able to bring home Tyler Austin who walked and advanced into scoring position after recording his first stolen base of the year.
After sandwiching a pair of walks around an infield single, the Giants had the bases loaded and no one out in the top of the fifth against Lucchesi. Instead of breaking the game wide open, the Giants' offense left the door open for the Padres to come back as a Samardzija strikeout, a Solano infield fly and a Brandon Belt groundout brought the inning to an end.
The Giants' failure to score cost them immediately in the bottom of the inning when light-hitting Padres catcher Austin Hedges launched a 419-foot home run off the second deck of the Western Metal Supply Co. building beyond the left field fence.
Samardzija also surrendered a two-strike single to Lucchesi in the fifth, but escaped the inning without allowing the Padres to take the lead.
After scoring at least 10 runs six times over an 11-game stretch from June 30-July 17, the Giants' offense has looked much like it did during the first two-plus months of the season over the last 10 days. Even though the team won five of the seven games it played on the homestand, the Giants needed exceptional pitching and four walk-off hits to take consecutive series from the Mets and Cubs.
They needed it again on Friday, and somehow, they continue to get it.
They also continue to get incredibly clutch production from Sandoval, who never met a big moment he didn't like.
