Marlins homer twice but drop opener to Giants

SAN FRANCISCO -- Nathan Eovaldi may have let the frustration of the moment get to him, and he knows that even momentarily losing a fraction of his concentration can prove costly.

Replays clearly showed a slow roller down the first-base line hitting off Hunter Pence's foot and rolling foul in the fifth inning.

But instead of an out, Pence was given new life, and he rolled a single into right field that kept a three-run rally alive and fated the Marlins to a 6-4 loss to the Giants on Thursday night.

"That was frustrating," Eovaldi said. "At the same time, I have to be able to set that aside and make the next pitch. The ball took a bounce, I went to field it, and he came running by and kicked the ball foul."

Manager Mike Redmond engaged the umpiring crew in conversation but got little satisfaction other than the umpires convening their own caucus.

"Nobody saw it," Redmond said. "They didn't see him kick it. They thought it spun foul, and you can't review foul balls. It's that gray area where they don't have dedicated cameras down the line. It was clear the ball was kicked, and it ended up being a big play."

Of course, Eovaldi did not do himself any favors by walking Angel Pagan to lead off the inning. Pence's grounder went through a hole vacated by Derek Dietrich, who was covering second on the hit-and-run.

Eovaldi left a ball up to Buster Posey, who drilled it into the gap in right-center for a double to drive in the go-ahead runs. After Eovaldi got Pablo Sandoval on a deep fly to right field, Michael Morse singled in another run.

"Any time I got ahead, I left a fastball up or down the middle," Eovaldi said. "It's tough, especially when we keep scoring runs."

Tyler Colvin's double ended Eovaldi's night. Brad Hand came in, and the Marlins avoided further damage the rest of the way.

The Marlins did have their share of highlights. Dietrich and Garrett Jones each hit a home run, Giancarlo Stanton singled to extend his hitting streak to 17 games and Carter Capps threw two scoreless innings.

"We swung the bats great the first three innings," Redmond said. "They just came back and added on. We have to do a better job of getting shutdown innings after we score."

Reed Johnson had two hits and Casey McGehee drove in a run for the Marlins, who fell to 4-16 on the road.

"Reed has been solid," Redmond said. "He's a nice spark for us, and he's gotten some huge hits for us."

Eovaldi (2-2) continued to have problems with the Giants after allowing six runs on nine hits over 4 1/3 innings. He walked two and struck out two.

Eovaldi is now 1-3 with a 12.27 ERA in four games against the Giants, numbers that betray how effective he is against everybody else: 10-19 with a 3.28 ERA.

Dietrich gave the Marlins a one-run lead in the first with his first home run in his past 20 games. Jones padded the lead to three runs with a two-run shot in the second.

The Giants narrowed the lead to two runs in the bottom of the second, but McGehee, who has hit safely in five of his past six games against the Giants, doubled in a run to make it 4-1 in the third.

Morse's two-run homer in the third brought the Giants to within one run before Posey's big hit put them ahead.

"He's supplying all the power," Morse said. "I got a good pitch to hit and put a good swing on it. If it's going to go out, it's going be that one."

Morse's single in the fifth gave the Giants an insurance run.

"They put some great at-bats together," McGehee said, "especially that inning."

Eovaldi has allowed four home runs over his past three starts after giving up one through his first six.

"We just have to do a better job executing our pitches," Redmond said.