Hunter Pence was acquired just before the trade cut-off point to fortify the San Francisco Giants’ low-scoring offense at home. After going hitless in his 1st 4 at-bats on Sunday, he became the hero with one swing.

Pence hit a 3-run home run to left in the bottom of the 8th inning to help the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 9-6.

The Giants blew a 3-0 1st-inning lead, yet managed to come back from a 2-run delinquency by scoring 5 runs in the 8th, highlighted by Pence’s clout.

Prior to the home run, Pence struggled, striking out twice and also lining into a double play. He’d been 0-for-10 for the San Francisco Giants in home games before getting an RBI double on Saturday.

Brandon Belt was 4-for-4 with 2 doubles and an RBI as the San Francisco Giants won for the 7th time in their last 10 games to remain one game ahead of the L.A Dodgers in the NL West. Baseball betting lines

With the San Francisco Giants leading 4-3 in the 6th inning, Giants starter Barry Zito was lifted for reliever George Kontos after giving up a one-out single to Jordan Pacheco. Kontos couldn’t hold the lead, relinquishing a double to D.J. LeMahieu. Pinch hitter Carlos Torres got his 1st major-league hit and RBI when he singled to center, giving the Colorado Rockies the edge.

The Rockies added a run in the 7th. Dexter Fowler singled and lifted 2nd. He ultimately scored on a sacrifice fly by Pacheco to put Colorado ahead 6-4.

In the 8th, Brandon Crawford hit a high fly ball to shallow left. Initially Crawford slammed his bat into the ground in disgust. But he would get a smash because shortstop Josh Rutledge lost the ball in the sun. Pinch hitter Hector Sanchez, after a long at-bat, hit a ground rule double that one-hopped the wall in deep center field. Angel Pagan walked, and the Giants had the bases loaded and no-one out.

Marco Scutaro flied out, but Melky Cabrera delivered in another clutch situation for his 3rd RBI of the day. Cabrera hit a ball up the middle. Rutledge dived for the ball and kept it from going into center field, however it did allow Crawford to score to make it a one-run game.

The bases remained loaded for Buster Posey, who fouled off several pitches. On the 10th pitch of the at-bat, he flied out to left, bringing in pinch-runner Joaquin Arias to tie the game at 6-6.  Pence was the subsequent batter, and he delivered his 3-run homer.

“They played with energy and the entire key to the 8th inning was the lead off pop up that fell,” Rockies manager Jim Tracy announced. “I really believe if we record that out, that inning is going to go fairly cleanly, and it didn’t. We were going to play the 9thinning with a 6-4 lead, but it didn’t work out that way. Give them credit, they know what’s at stake and they made use of the situation to steer the 8th inning off and beat us. That’s just about what it boils down to.”