SAN DIEGO _ The Padres' future seemed to be on precocious display early in their home opener Friday. In consecutive at-bats, center fielder Manuel Margot, 22, launched the first two home runs of his major league career. Luis Perdomo, 23, used 59 pitches to stifle the Giants through five innings.
One swing was enough to cast a pall over the festivities. Another was enough to reanimate a sellout crowd.
After Brandon Belt's sixth-inning grand slam erased a three-run lead, second baseman Yangervis Solarte put the Padres back ahead with a two-run double in the seventh. In spite of a second home run from Belt, the hosts held on for a 7-6 victory in the season's first game at Petco Park.
While Margot put on an unexpected power show, Solarte was an opportunistic force in the heart of the lineup. He finished the afternoon with two run-scoring singles and the decisive double. Each time, he swung at the first pitch.
Solarte's four-RBI performance anchored bursts of production from the top of San Diego's order. Margot starred alongside his more experienced teammate.
The jet-quick center fielder had become one of baseball's best prospects for a number of reasons, one being his ability to barrel pitches with uncanny regularity. What he is not particularly known for is his ability to hit the ball out of the park.
Last season, playing in the offense-crazed Pacific Coast League, Margot hit a total of six home runs. Two arrived in the same game, just his second multi-homer performance in professional baseball.
Friday, in the Padres' first at-bat and his 11th career start, Margot turned on a fastball from Matt Cain. A drive flew into the seats in left-center, tying the score. With a runner on third, Perdomo had been called for a balk in the previous half-inning.
Leading off the bottom of the third, Cain threw a 1-1 meatball. Margot ripped another solo shot, this one narrowly clearing the left-field wall.
He rounded the bases having made history. The outfield prospect who went deep only six times last year became the fourth-youngest player to have a multi-homer game for the Padres. He joined Carmelo Martinez as the only rookies in franchise history to hit multiple home runs in a home opener.
Two at-bats after Margot's second solo shot, first baseman Wil Myers doubled. Solarte followed with his first single.
In the fifth, left fielder Janowski singled, stole second and advanced to third on Myers' groundout. Up came Solarte, swinging again. Perdomo, recovered from his early miscue, took a 4-1 lead into the sixth.
It was then that he finally faltered, to devastating effect. Before he could record an out, the Giants filled the bases. On an 0-1 count, Perdomo flung a breaking ball at the plate.
It arrived a tad too high. Belt walloped a bases-clearing homer to right-center, silencing the majority of the 43,441 in attendance.
By the bottom of the seventh, the ballpark was rocking again. Jankowski walked. Myers singled. Solarte drilled a gap shot to right. Catcher Austin Hedges, still seeking his first hit of the season, laid down a safety squeeze, scoring Solarte from third. The Padres led, 7-5.
Belt launched his second homer in the eighth, over Margot's head in center, before Ryan Buchter escaped without further damage.
Brandon Maurer entered in the ninth, retiring the side to secure the Padres' first save and home victory of the year.
