San Francisco now ranks second in Major League Baseball with 47 runs scored, an encouraging turnaround for a team that frequently had trouble plating runners last season. Brandon Belt hit his fifth home run of the season -#8212; a two-run shot in the first inning -#8212; young Michael Morse went 2 for 3 with a pair of runs batted in and leadoff man Pagan raised his batting average to .441; he has hit safely in every game this season.
"It's addictive when you see everybody," Pagan said. "If I wasn't the leadoff hitter and I see the leadoff man with a great at-bat like that, I want to do like the same. I want to keep the line moving."
A four-run lead was more than enough for Hudson, who had a typically outstanding day. He was rarely overpowering against the D-backs, but he hit his spots, changed speeds effectively and battled out of jams when he had to. He did not walk a batter.
"Anytime you get a lead early, it makes our job a lot easier," Hudson said. "We can be a lot more aggressive. You know, make 'em earn what they get."
Arizona got a run in the second inning on a single by Martin Prado, a hit batter and a throwing error by Giants second baseman Brandon Hicks, but Hudson got out of it by inducing a pair of fly balls.
When Paul Goldschmidt doubled, moved up on a single and scored on a sacrifice fly in the fourth, Hudson tamped out the fire with three straight fly-ball outs.
The Diamondbacks had only three baserunners after that; one of them, pinch hitter Tony Campana, tripled and scored in the eighth inning.
"Just keep the ball down, change speeds," Hudson said. "I mean, there's not a whole lot of secrets with me out there."
Santiago Casilla relieved Hudson for the ninth and pitched a one-two-three inning.
The Giants went quietly over the last three innings, too, but they had padded their lead by then.
Already up 5-2 in the fifth, they got a pair of insurance runs on a two-out single by Brandon Crawford.
Morse had hit a ground-rule double that Arizona left fielder Mark Trumbo lost in the sun, and pinch runner Gregor Blanco scored the second of those runs by sliding around catcher Miguel Montero's sweep tag.
It was another tough outing for Cahill, who gave up five runs and eight hits in 3? innings.
He's now 0-3 on the season, with an ERA of 7.90.
Crawford's hit, and Morse's earlier two-run single, continued a run of remarkable clutch hitting for the Giants. Of their 47 runs this season, 32 have come with two outs. Crawford said after the game that two-out hitting was a point of emphasis for this team during spring training. The general message: relax up there.
"We all kind of talked," Crawford said.
"We had a couple of hitters' meetings this year. Just trying not to put too much pressure on ourselves. We know we have a good lineup."
Something is working. At 6-2, the Giants have the best record in the National League, and they proved their recent hitting streak during seven road games could extend to pitcher-friendly AT-T as well.
Not a bad opening stanza for the San Francisco fans. Then again, it shouldn't have come as a surprise. The Giants are now 12-3 in home openers at this stadium.
You can reach Staff Writer Phil Barber at 521-5263 or phil.barber@pressdemocrat.com.
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