There are few environments in the National League that can match Petco Park on a Friday night.
The up-and-coming Padres tend to draw big crowds on weekends, and they shut down the street outside their ballpark to allow fans to have a bit more fun. The bars in the Gaslamp are buzzing and overflowing with fans from both sides, and it's not uncommon to see a concert or beer festival out in the park beyond the outfield wall.
It's silent around the ballpark tonight, but in the PlayStation world, Petco Park still put on a nice show. The Giants and Padres played a close one, as they always do, with the Giants edging their division rival 4-3 in 12 innings.
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The Giants put the tying run on second in the 11th but couldn't score, and former Padre Tyson Ross got out of a heck of a jam in the bottom of the inning. With two on and no outs, Ross got a flyout and then induced a double-play grounder from Brian Dozier. The Giants went ahead a few minutes later.
Brandon Belt, the hottest Giants hitter, doubled off the wall to lead off the 12th. He scored when Manny Machado airmailed a throw to first on a soft grounder.
Here are some takeaways from the Giants' victory in "MLB: The Show" ...
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Belted
In the virtual world, the Belt Wars are on the verge of being over!
Belt entered the night hitting over .300 and he carried the offense against Garrett Richards and a good Padres bullpen. With the Giants down by a run in the fourth inning,
Belt jumped on a breaking ball that was down and in and tucked a two-run shot just inside the foul pole in right.
The homer was the second of the year for Belt, who also has seven doubles. Overall he's batting .327 through a couple weeks in the digital version of 2020. How can fake Twitter rage against that?
Shutdown 'Pen
The real Giants thought they could have a sneaky-good bullpen this year, and the eclectic group threw seven shutout innings behind Drew Smyly, who gave up three runs in five innings.
Smyly is off to a bit of a rough start as a digital Giant. He entered with a 4.40 ERA and gave up a two-run shot to Wil Myers, who is just as much of a Giants-killer in PlayStation as in real life.
But Jarlin Garcia, Trevor Cahill, Dany Jimenez and Ross teamed up to get the ball to Tony Watson, who picked up his fourth save with a perfect ninth inning. Ross and Watson still haven't allowed a run this year.
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Old Friend
Drew Pomeranz pitched the sixth and seventh, striking out four and allowing just one baserunner. Perhaps that massive contract will work out for the PlayStation Padres, who seem to be doing well with their new additions. Tommy Pham entered the day with a .395 average and three homers and former A’s infielder Jurickson Profar was hitting .400.