SAN FRANCISCO – Hunter Pence hit a grand slam in the eighth, Joe Panik drove in three runs and keyed San Francisco’s comeback, and the Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 12-6 in their home opener Thursday.
The Dodgers pitchers’ 31-inning scoreless streak to start the season ended in the fifth, one inning shy of the 1963 St. Louis Cardinals’ record to begin a year.
Chris Heston (1-0) worked the sixth in relief of Jake Peavy for the victory as San Francisco erased a 4-0 deficit to the delight of a sellout crowd announced at 41,940.
Bruce Bochy bested his former outfielder and now-Dodgers manager Dave Roberts in their first matchup.
In the fifth, Los Angeles finally gave up its first runs of 2016 and got to Alex Wood (0-1). Brandon Crawford drew a leadoff walk from Wood, pinch hitter Kelby Tomlinson singled and Denard Span drove in a run on an RBI groundout before Panik’s RBI triple. Buster Posey also doubled in a run.
Joc Pederson hit a two-run homer on the first pitch he saw from Sergio Romo in the eighth, then Pence connected off Pedro Baez for his sixth career grand slam and first homer of 2016. Los Angeles’ ERA jumped from 0.00 after four innings to 3.09.
The Dodgers challenged a would-be inning-ending double play in the second, questioning whether Panik touched second for the putout. Panik threw to first to retire Wood, who received an RBI groundout on the play after it was overturned on review in 2 minutes, 26 seconds.
Adrian Gonzalez’s second double of the day made it 3-0 in the third when left fielder Angel Pagan missed a tough, slicing ball on the warning track. Scott Van Slyke added a run-scoring double in the fifth before the three-time defending division champion Dodgers squandered their lead to this decade’s every-other-year champion Giants.
The Giants outhit the Dodgers 17-13, improving to 37-22 in home openers since moving to San Francisco in 1958 and 13-4 in their current ballpark.
JANIE McCAULEY
