SF Giants fall to Padres in first battle vs. NL West opponent this season

SAN DIEGO There is no division in baseball that can hold a candle to the NL West Four teams possess playoff aspirations if not World Series ambitions The Rockies also happen to exist The Giants more than a month into the season got their first chance to dance with a division foe on Tuesday night The opponent was the Padres The stage was Petco Park on Tony Gwynn bobblehead night The publicized attendance was the second-largest in ballpark history San Francisco a association that excels at playing behind the eight ball fell into a hole early en direction to a - loss San Diego which showcased its best arms affirmed why its October itinerary accounts for playoff baseball The Giants lost the first of what will be total rounds against the Padres Dodgers and Diamondbacks They welcome the kerfuffles and scraps and spars that lie ahead We know it s going to be a challenge declared shortstop Willy Adames This whole division I feel is the best division in baseball There s a lot of talent on this side Obviously every time we face the Padres or the D-backs or the Dodgers it s going to be fight It s going to be a battle We have to play better baseball We have to be better than than them That s what we re going to try to do the day after For San Francisco playing better baseball especially against a unit of San Diego s caliber entails avoiding early deficits Before the threshold crowd got settled Logan Webb allowed a trifecta of runs in the first and put the Giants in a - deficit setting the stage for an evening where he allowed a season-high five earned runs over five innings But as would be the scenario all night misfortune would be at play Webb recorded two quick outs but allowed a sharp single to Manny Machado then walked Gavin Sheets Of the walk Webb announced it ruined the inning from there on out Following the free pass Xander Bogaerts snuck a single through the middle on a well-placed inside sinker to drive in Machado Jose Iglesias added on by lunged at an outside sweeper lifted it to right field to drive in two runs of his own The dinks and doinks became a theme Webb allowed two more soft hits in the second a broken-bat single to Elias D az at mph and a bloop single to Luis Arraez that fell in front of Mike Yastrzemski The fourth inning brought even more soft contact that ascertained grass and generated runs Jason Heyward led off with a mph one that dropped in front of left fielder Heliot Ramos and rolled past him when he was unable to stop the ball D az followed Heyward by poking another softly-hit ball through the infield clocking in at mph Those back-to-back hits by Heyward and D az set the stage for a sacrifice fly by Arraez and an RBI single from Machado putting five runs on Webb s docket and an early end to his night Webb allowed a season-high nine hits but four registered at under mph Baseball happens Webb mentioned I didn t expect tonight to go the way it did It s crazy You look back at games and there s a lot of stuff you look back at and you re like Man I wish I didn t throw that Honestly tonight I don t think there s a large number of pitches I would take back Kind of just the way the ball fell Added Adames They got lucky this day against Webby He was very unlucky Got a lot of bloopers their way Those days are going to happen We re going to continue to battle until the end We re going to come in the next 24 hours and try to get that win and even the series up and go back home and try to sweep the Rockies or win the series at least The Giants indeed continued to battle Adames put the Giants on the board with a solo homer in the fourth his second home run of the season Two innings later Adames kickstarted a three-run sixth inning with a leadoff double Adames scored on Jung Hoo Lee s single and the struggling LaMonte Wade Jr contributed a much-needed two-run double that shrunk the Padres lead to - That s as far as their comeback efforts would go Randy Rodr guez allowed his first two runs of the year in the seventh as Bogaerts lined a two-run shot over the left-field lead and that three-run lead was more than enough for San Diego s elite bullpen The Giants are left with more opportunities to spar with this division s playoff hopefuls their next opportunity being Wednesday afternoon to conclude a brief two-games The Padres landed the first blow the following hours will reveal if the Giants have a counter People are starting to see our identity Adames reported We re not going to back up from anybody We re going to continue to battle We re going to come everywhere and fight Like I declared in spring training we re in a better position than people think we are I m saying it again nowadays because I know the talent we have here I know the confidence we have here We re going to continue to try to be better every day and continue to win games