PHOENIX -- The Giants accomplished a significant goal on Opening Night of 2014: casting aside the bitter memory of 2013.Buster Posey, among the Giants who slumped last year, walloped a two-run, tiebreaking homer in the ninth inning to propel San Francisco to a 9-8 triumph Monday over the Arizona Diamondbacks.San Francisco's appalling defense helped Arizona grab a 7-3 lead in Monday's middle innings, awakening memories of last year's dismal performances. Then the Giants surged instead of slouched, pulling even with four runs in the seventh inning.The 7-7 deadlock remained intact until the ninth. Brandon Belt singled with one out off reliever Addison Reed before Posey drove a 1-0 pitch deep into the left-field stands with two outs. 
Sergio Romo yielded Miguel Montero's leadoff homer in the ninth inning but held on to save the Giants' triumph.Michael Morse's single christened the Giants' big seventh, most of which unfolded with two outs. Arizona starter Brandon McCarthy needed one out to escape the inning unscored upon before Ehire Adrianza's pinch-hit double scored Joaquin Arias. That ended McCarthy's evening and launched a streak of five consecutive hits, including Angel Pagan's RBI double, Belt's single, Pablo Sandoval's bizarre RBI single that he blooped off shortstop Chris Owings' glove after ducking from reliever Oliver Perez's inside pitch, and Posey's single. That loaded the bases for Hunter Pence, who coaxed a walk from Brad Ziegler that forced in Belt with the tying run.Earlier, San Francisco's cluster of errors, whether charged by the official scorer or resulting from poor execution, helped Arizona assume a 7-3 lead through six innings. The Giants mustered occasional big hits, such as Pagan's two-out RBI single in the third inning, Brandon Crawford's fifth-inning double off the center-field wall and Belt's sixth-inning homer. But their defense nullified any offense they mustered.A pair of errors helped the D-backs score four unearned runs in the fourth inning, after which starter Madison Bumgarner was excused. The Giants weren't charged with any errors in the fifth, but they continued mishandling plays. Then the Giants botched a sixth-inning rundown, gift-wrapping another run for the D-backs.Chris Haft / MLB.com
Sergio Romo yielded Miguel Montero's leadoff homer in the ninth inning but held on to save the Giants' triumph.Michael Morse's single christened the Giants' big seventh, most of which unfolded with two outs. Arizona starter Brandon McCarthy needed one out to escape the inning unscored upon before Ehire Adrianza's pinch-hit double scored Joaquin Arias. That ended McCarthy's evening and launched a streak of five consecutive hits, including Angel Pagan's RBI double, Belt's single, Pablo Sandoval's bizarre RBI single that he blooped off shortstop Chris Owings' glove after ducking from reliever Oliver Perez's inside pitch, and Posey's single. That loaded the bases for Hunter Pence, who coaxed a walk from Brad Ziegler that forced in Belt with the tying run.Earlier, San Francisco's cluster of errors, whether charged by the official scorer or resulting from poor execution, helped Arizona assume a 7-3 lead through six innings. The Giants mustered occasional big hits, such as Pagan's two-out RBI single in the third inning, Brandon Crawford's fifth-inning double off the center-field wall and Belt's sixth-inning homer. But their defense nullified any offense they mustered.A pair of errors helped the D-backs score four unearned runs in the fourth inning, after which starter Madison Bumgarner was excused. The Giants weren't charged with any errors in the fifth, but they continued mishandling plays. Then the Giants botched a sixth-inning rundown, gift-wrapping another run for the D-backs.Chris Haft / MLB.com
If you enjoyed this article, please consider sharing it!
