SAN DIEGO -- The Giants were able to capitalize on their schedule Thursday, taking the series opener against the Padres, 2-1, to move one-half game ahead of the idle Cardinals and remain tied with the Mets in the National League Wild Card spots.
San Francisco and New York -- which beat Philadelphia in 11 innings Thursday -- are both 81-72 with nine regular-season games left to play.
Angel Pagan's bloop RBI single to right field broke the scoreless deadlock in the eighth, and Hunter Pence added an RBI double in the inning to help make a winner of Jeff Samardzija, who struck out nine over seven shutout innings in his 12th win of the season.