Tomlinson's Clutch Hit, Samardzija's Solid Start Fuel Giants

Exactly 100 days passed since the last time Kelby Tomlinson recorded a base-hit with the San Francisco Giants and the infielder sure knew how to make his first hit with the big league club since May 29th count.

Tomlinson delivered a clutch hit when his team was in desperate need, driving in a run with a RBI single in the top of the ninth inning to give the Giants the go-ahead run over the Colorado Rockies in what would be a 3-2 victory for the Giants.

With a one-run lead in hand, Santiago Casilla notched one of his biggest saves of the season in the stadium where leads go to die.

"Spec's" last hit with the Giants before his Tuesday night game-winning single was, coincidentally, against the Rockies at Coors Field, so it was only right Tomlinson came full circle.

Tomlinson's base hit completed San Francisco's comeback efforts, wherein the eighth inning, Eduardo Núñez tied up the ballgame by bringing home Gorkys Hernández on a groundout.

Núñez was San Francisco's only offense before the eighth inning, belting his third home run as a Giant in the top of the third inning to give his team what was then a 1-0 lead.

Other than the early home run, Tyler Anderson neutralized San Francisco's bats, but Jeff Samardzija was right there to keep the Giants in the ballgame with an excellent outing, holding the Rockies to two runs and four hits while walking one batter and striking out nine.

Colorado took a couple of small jabs against Samardzija rather than going for the offensive fireworks that were on display Monday afternoon at the expense of Matt Moore.

Rookie Raimel Tapia's combination of speed and aggressive base running generated a run for the Rockies in the bottom of the third after he drew a two-out walk on four straight pitches.

Tapia successfully stole second on the second pitch of DJ LeMahieu's at-bat, barely beating a dart by Trevor Brown by a few inches.

Crawford speared a LeMahieu ground ball up the middle that prevented it from rolling into center field, but the shortstop bobbled the ball on the exchange, kicking a couple of feet away from him towards center field, allowing Tapia to score from second.

Once Crawford picked up the ball and gunned it to Brown, Tapia was already sliding across home plate without much of a contest. Samardzija could only snatch the ball midflight and check on LeMahieu at first.

Taipa was again a nuisance for Samardzija, this time in the bottom of the fifth inning when he knocked in Tony Wolters on a sacrifice fly to put the Rockies up 2-1.

Wolters kicked off the bottom of the fifth with a double into right field and advanced to third base by way of a Tyler Anderson sacrifice bunt.

Samardzija got ahead in the count, but his 1-2 slider down in the zone was just a little too high as Tapia lifted it out into mid-center field.

Hernandez caught Tapia's fly ball and tried to throw out Wolters at the plate, but a perfect throw wouldn't have enough and Wolter's scored with ease. The sacrifice fly was Tapia's first RBI of his major league career.

San Francisco was dormant on the offensive end in response to the Rockies' two runs but woke up just in time to mount a late-game comeback beginning in the top of the eighth inning.

Hernández and Brown hit a pair of leadoff singles and Ehire Adrianza laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third with only one out.

Núñez, who already had a home run under his belt, stepped to the plate with the chance to give the Giants the lead, but fell behind in the count 1-2.

San Francisco's leadoff man did not try to do too much with his back against the wall, hitting a grounder deep enough into the six-hole to drive in Hernández and tie the ballgame up at two apiece.

Bruce Bochy turned to his bullpen to ensure the game remained tied, subbing in Will Smith, Sergio Romo, and Javier Lopez, who all retired one batter each in the bottom of the eighth.

Smith walked the leadoff batter in Tom Murphy but redeemed himself by striking out his next batter in Tapia.

Romo retired LeMahieu by way of a pop out to Tomlinson, and Lopez kept his second baseman busy by inducing a groundout off the bat of Carlos Gonzalez.

Buster Posey and Hunter Pence kicked off the top of the ninth by setting the stage for Tomlinson, albeit they were the beneficiaries of a couple of lucky breaks.

Posey reached second on a fielding error from Colorado shortstop Daniel Descalso, and Pence reached first on an infield single, advancing his catcher to third in the process.

Brandon Crawford couldn't capitalize with runners in scoring position, but Tomlinson was right there to pick him up, muscling a soft liner into left field allowing Posey to score on a light jog home.

Entering the bottom of the ninth, Casilla immediately matched up against Nolan Arrenado, who has made a career teeing off against the Giants.

The closer went ahead in the count 1-2 after a pair of first-pitch strikes and induced a fly out to right field, ending his biggest threat in the inning.

Casilla walked David Dahl on a payoff fastball that missed the mark, putting a runner on first but came right back by getting Gerardo Parra to ground into a game-ending double play, securing the Giants second win in the month of September.

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