Pence's Three-Run Homer Drives Giants Past Rockies

Hunter Pence is officially a Giant.

Although he went 1-5, that one hit was perhaps the biggest one of the year for the Giants thus far.

More on that later. The Giants scored three runs in the first inning on a string of base hits off of Rockies pitcher Alex White, and it was 3-0 early.

But the last place Rockies battled back against Giants starter Barry Zito. A pair of RBI doubles in the third and a sac fly in the fourth quickly tied the game.

The Giants re-gained the lead in the fifth when Ryan Theriot knocked in Brandon Belt with a double. Belt had one of his best games in the big leagues, going 4-4 and reached base every at bat.

But the Rockies wouldn't give up. With the game tied at four in the sixth, relief pitcher Carlos Torres knocked in the go-ahead run with a single up the middle. Yes, a relief pitcher.

The Rockies would extend their lead in the seventh with a sac fly, so it was 6-4 Rockies at that point.

But we were just getting started, as the Giants launched a comeback of their own.

Brandon Crawford led off the eighth inning with a pop up that fell in front of Rockies outfielder Carlos Gonzalez. Hector Sanchez followed that up with a ground-rule double. Later in the inning, with the bases loaded with one out, Melky Cabrera pulled the Giants within one on an infield single, setting up the at-bats of the year from Buster Posey and Hunter Pence.

It was a ten-pitch at bat that ended with Posey hitting a sac fly to tie the game at six. Then came the big fly that everybody was waiting for from Hunter Pence, who has been struggling since coming to San Francisco. He launched a bomb to left-center field, a three-run shot to put the Giants ahead 9-6.

The bullpen would close it in the ninth, and the Giants had one of their signature wins of the season.

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