Giants, Peavy top Padres, 9-1

SAN FRANCISCO The clock is winding down on the 2015 season for the San Francisco Giants, but manager Bruce Bochy said “we’re breathing” before the game, and starter Jake Peavy was a major breath of fresh air in a 9-1 win over the San Diego on Friday at AT&T Park.

Peavy, who has lumbered through an injury-plagued season, allowed just one base runner in the first six innings en route to his sixth win of the year.

“Maybe we can get our mojo going and get a little help,” Bochy said early in the day. “It will take some great play and also a little help.”

The game was the start of a nine-game homestand in which the Giants have no margin for error. Even after the win and a blowout loss by the Dodgers in Arizona, San Francisco is in a 71/2-game hole to Los Angeles in the National League West with but 21 games left in the season.

Friday was the first day since Aug. 21 in which the Giants had gained ground on the Dodgers.

San Francisco and Los Angeles play only four more times this year, in the final week of the season, so it’s incumbent upon the Giants to cut their deficit in half before the Dodgers some to AT&T Park if there is to be any N.L. West pennant drama this season.

Not impossible, but unlikely in the extreme. The Giants say they have no choice but to play with more urgency than at any point this year, and they showed some of that, starting with Peavy, now 6-6, and center fielder Angel Pagan.

While Peavy was getting settled in, Pagan tied the game in the second inning with a single. And to make sure the game stayed well in hand, he made a terrific leaping catch at the center field wall in the seventh inning to steal a home run from San Diego’s Matt Kemp.

Beyond that, Peavy didn’t need much assistance. He gave up a solo homer to Justin Upton in the second and a single to Upton in the seventh and nothing else before turning a 7-1 lead over to the Giants bullpen.

Between the Upton homer and the Upton single, 17 Padres went down in order with Peavy a model of consistency. He threw just 79 pitches, 54 of them strikes.

Up and down the Giants lineup, the hitting was timely, more so than it has been for much of a disappointing year. San Francisco’s first eight runs were brought in by eight different batters, including an RBI single from Peavy.

The Giants may have to do without outfielders Nori Aoki, Gregor Blanco and Hunter Pence for the remainder of the season, Bochy said. Aoki and Blanco are both dealing with residual trauma from concussions, and Pence is trying to get over an oblique injury. Among the three of them, they have made 212 starts in the Giants’ outfield this year. Asked if Aoki and Blanco could be done for the season, Bochy didn’t mince words. “It’s possible,” he said. “And even Hunter Pence. Now that we’re down to three weeks (left in the season), it’s possible they may be done. We’re hoping that they aren’t.”

Matt Cain rejoined the Giants on Friday after an injury rehabilitation assignment while he tried to get over some elbow nerve irritation. He comes back to find that he won’t be starting any time soon, so he’s in the bullpen.

“I’m in the ‘pen for now,” Cain said. “I’m fine with that. I’ll let them decide (if he’ll get another start).”

Bochy said another start for Cain was “a possibility.”

The Giants reached down to Triple-A Sacramento to recall outfielder Jarrett Parker. He’d been up for four games in June, and on his return Friday delivered a run-scoring ground-rule double as a pinch-hitter.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford (calf injury) wasn’t in the starting lineup, but he could be back soon, Bochy said. The manager also said that second baseman Joe Panik (back) could be back at some point but that the Giants would see Crawford’s return before Panik’s.

Recent call-up Brett Bochy, the manager’s son, pitched a scoreless ninth inning, but not before his dad visited the mound after Brett Bochy gave up a two-out single to Kemp and hit Upton with a pitch. Bochy the younger then struck out Jedd Gyorko to end it.

Brett Bochy was 6-1 with a 2.95 for Triple-A Sacramento this season. Bruce Bochy is delighted to have him but said before the game that he wasn’t sure where he’d use him. Eight-run leads seem to fit the bill.

“He earned the promotion,” Bochy said of his son. “It’s good for me to see him. But like I said, we have a pretty full bullpen.”

(c)2015 San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.)

Visit the San Jose Mercury News (San Jose, Calif.) at www.mercurynews.com

Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.