San Francisco, CA – Brandon Belt and Juan Perez smacked two- run homers in the San Francisco Giants' 7-3 win over the San Diego Padres in the opener of a three-game set.
Hunter Pence cracked a solo shot for San Francisco, which has won four of its last five games.
"He's one of the more inspirational players that you can have on the club," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's full-throttle, the way he plays the game. He hit a home run on a big day for him."
Ryan Vogelsong (4-6) surrendered two runs on five hits and four walks over six innings to pick up the win.
Burch Smith (1-3) allowed six runs on eight hits and three walks over 5 2/3 frames for the Padres, who had won three of their last four tilts coming in.
"Burch hung in there," said Padres manager Bud Black. "No pitcher is invincible. Home runs usually come on balls out over the plate. He will realize balls out over the plate will get hit."
After Jedd Gyorko's one-out RBI double tied the game at 2-2 in the top of the third, the Giants countered with a three-run bottom half to seize control of the contest.
Tony Abreu singled to start the frame and Belt followed with his two-run shot to right. Following Buster Posey's strikeout, Pence belted his blast to left, which gave San Francisco a 5-2 lead.
Gregor Blanco worked a bases-loaded walk in the sixth and lined an RBI triple in the eighth to up the advantage to 7-2.
Logan Forsythe's solo shot in the ninth cut the gap to 7-3.
Earlier, Tommy Medica's two-out RBI single staked the Padres to a 1-0 edge in the first before Perez's two-run homer in the second gave the Giants the lead.
Game Notes
Perez, Abreu and Blanco all tallied three hits ... Both teams were 1-for-7 with runners in scoring position ... Pence's homer was his 26th of the season.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.