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Quentin, other fresh faces, try to lead Padres over Giants

Jun 6, 2012 - 2:50 PM (Sports Network) - Carlos Quentin and Logan Forsythe are fairly new to the Padres after dealing with injuries since Spring Training.

They pulled a double-team act on the San Francisco Giants in the opener of a three-game set and hope to seize San Diego's first series victory in almost three weeks tonight from Petco Park.

Quentin appeared in his sixth game of the season in last night's 6-5 win over the Giants and missed the first 49 contests after undergoing knee surgery in March. The former Chicago White Sox slugger belted a pair of home runs, including a game-tying blast in the eighth inning, and finished with three hits.

"Carlos Quentin is one of the best hitters in baseball. Pitching against him for so many years, he's a guy in the lineup who provides a dynamic that has to be respected," Padres closer Huston Street said on the club's website. "He changes the game. He's changed so many games for us ... and he's only been back for 10 days."

Forsythe has only played in two games for San Diego and hit the game-winning home run in the bottom of the ninth off Giants reliever Steve Edlefsen. Forsythe, who homered for the first time in his young career, had surgery in the offseason to remove the sesamoid bone in his left foot before spending time with Triple-A Tucson.

Cameron Maybin had two RBI for the Padres, who haven't won a series since taking two of three against the LA Angels of Anaheim from May 18-20 and prevailed for only the fifth time in the last 17 tries. Padres starter Anthony Bass did not record a decision and allowed four runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. Street, meanwhile, was reinstated to the active roster Tuesday because of a strained right lat muscle and recorded the win with a scoreless inning of relief.

San Diego is still last in the NL West and improved to 2-2 on a six-game homestand.

The Padres opened the 2012 campaign with high expectations for Clayton Richard, but so far he's been a major disappointment. Richard gets the nod tonight and is only 2-6 with a 4.44 ERA in 11 starts this season. He is 0-1 in his last three outings and did not figure into the decision of a 7-1 win over Arizona on Friday, as he lasted 6 2/3 innings and was reached for only a run.

Richard will face San Francisco for the second time this season and was saddled with the loss in a 4-1 setback on April 29. He opposed Madison Bumgarner that day and gave up all four runs and eight hits in seven innings. The lefty is 5-3 in nine career starts against the Giants and 2-2 with a 2.12 ERA in five starts at home this season.

San Francisco was coming off a four-game sweep of the Chicago Cubs and had won seven of eight games until last night's tough loss. The club has now lost each of starter Tim Lincecum's last seven starts with the two-time NL Cy Young Award winner going 0-4 in that span. He gave up four runs in six innings for the no-decision and Edlefsen was dealt the loss for allowing Forsythe's homer.

"As a starter your job is to put your team in a position to win. Obviously, I haven't been doing that up until now and I'm definitely going to be making that my focal point for the next however many months we have left," said Lincecum.

Ryan Theriot highlighted San Francisco's offense with three hits and three RBI, while Gregor Blanco finished 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored for the Giants, who slipped four games behind Los Angeles for the NL West lead. Angel Pagan added two hits to extend his hitting streak to 13 games.

Things got kind of hairy for Bumgarner last month, but he was able to stop the bleeding by winning his first start in June. Bumgarner looks to string back- to-back wins together tonight against the Padres and was 0-3 in four starts from May 11-26 before holding the Cubs in check during Friday's 4-3 win at AT&T Park.

Bumgarner struck out a season-high 11 batters and did not issue a walk through eight-plus innings of work. He carried a six-hit shutout into the ninth inning before departing after some trouble and improved to 6-4 in 11 starts with a 3.04 earned run average. He reached double-digit strikeouts without walking a hitter for the first time in his career and threw first-pitch strikes to 23 of the 30 batters he faced.

The young left-hander defeated San Diego in a 4-1 win on April 29 and fired 7 2/3 innings of one-run ball with six K's and one walk. Bumgarner, who has not yielded more than two walks in a start this season, is 2-2 with a 2.92 ERA in nine career games (8 starts) against the Padres.

The Padres are just 5-13 in the past 18 meetings between the teams.