Leake leads way for Giants with arm, bat in 10-3 win over Padres

SAN FRANCISCO Mike Leake didn’t have a victory in his first five starts as a Giant, but he deserved a better fate.

He made his own luck Sunday afternoon and joined the laser show, too.

Leake hit a three-run home run in the second inning and then course-corrected from some early mistakes, protecting the lead he provided as the Giants swept away the San Diego Padres with a 10-3 victory at AT&T Park.

The Giants remained 7 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the NL West.

The Giants trailed 3-0 before No.8 batter Ehire Adrianza lined a two-out, RBI single and extended the second inning for Leake. It wasn’t a terrible notion for Leake to tighten his battling gloves and take matters into his own hands. The Giants had scored a total of six runs of support in his first five starts.

Leake already owned a homer this season, but that came in a Cincinnati Reds uniform. He got some bragging rights on his new slugging, pouncing on the first pitch from Odrisamer Despaigne.

Leake became the third Giants pitcher this month to go deep, after Tim Hudson and Ryan Vogelsong homered on the last road trip. Along with Madison Bumgarner, they are the first quartet of Giants pitchers to homer in one season since Vida Blue, Steve Carlton, Scott Garrelts and Mike LaCoss in 1986.

Giants pitchers have hit eight home runs this season; the last major league team to receive more from its pitchers was the Colorado Rockies in 2001 (10), when Mike Hampton hit seven.

The Giants swept the three-game series and also claimed the season series against the Padres; they are 10-6 against them with a three-game series to be played at Petco Park Sept. 22-24.

It took awhile to clear out the early gloom, though. The Padres jumped on Leake in the first inning when Yangervis Solarte hit a triple that neither center fielder Angel Pagan nor right fielder Marlon Byrd could cut off. Solarte scored on a ground out, then Justin Upton tripled and scored in Brett Wallace’s double.

Wallace and Leake were teammates once at Arizona State.

The Padres led 3-0 after Travis Jankowski hit his first major league home run in the second inning.

Buster Posey and Brandon Belt singled to started the Giants’ comeback in a four-run second inning. The Padres had two outs and second base open but it wasn’t a surprise when they pitched to Adrianza, the No. 8 hitter, who entered with a .173 average. He lined his single over the head of second baseman Alexi Amarista, and then Leake capped the rally with his fourth career homer.

Leake retired 14 of the final 16 batters he faced and didn’t allow another hit after Jankowski’s home run, although the Padres made some hard contact that didn’t find holes. He walked off the mound to a standing ovation after issuing a leadoff walk in the

Posey hit an RBI double as the Giants added a pair of runs in the fifth, and then stretched their lead in the seventh when the Padres bullpen had trouble throwing strikes. Pagan stole a career-high three bases including a second and third in the seventh, no doubt taking pleasure as San Diego catcher Derek Norris struggled to make accurate throws. The two players argued back in April after Pagan picked up a piece of chewed gum and tossed it between Norris’ feet by accident, he claimed.

As Pagan crossed the plate on a bases-loaded walk, he blew a bubble.

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