Arizona Diamondbacks’ Jake Lamb hits a three RBI double during their MLB game against San Francisco Giants in Phoenix, Arizona, on Tuesday. (USA TODAY Sports)
By Andrew Baggarly/San Jose Mercury News (TNS)Ryan Vogelsong, the San Francisco Giants’ sudden No 2 starter, pitched through constant traffic. On another night, he might have emerged with just a door ding or two.But David Peralta hit a three-run home run in the third inning. Jake Lamb hit a three-run homer in the fifth. When a pitcher allows six runs on two swings, you don’t need to be an insurance adjuster to call the night a total loss.Especially when Brandon Belt doesn’t make it past the fourth inning because of an injury.The Giants couldn’t rally all the way back in a 7-6 loss to the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field on Tuesday night. And a team that has scrambled to fill sinkholes in its rotation might have another chasm in the middle of their lineup, too.Belt exited in the fourth inning with a strained right groin after pulling up lame while giving chase to a foul pop. He consulted briefly with trainer Eric Ortega and manager Bruce Bochy before following them to the dugout.Buster Posey hit a two-run home run in the first inning and Brandon Crawford hit a solo shot as the Giants outhit the Diamondbacks 10-8. But going forward, it’s hard to envision them outhitting the shortcomings of an injury-ravaged rotation without Belt and Hunter Pence in the lineup.Just two games into the season, the defending champions are in total survival mode. That is familiar territory for Vogelsong, who had to battle hard even by his own pugilistic standards while throwing 99 pitches in 42/3 innings.The Giants had Vogelsong pitch on Matt Cain’s day most of the spring so they’d have a backup plan all lined up in case of injury. Sure enough, Cain will be on the disabled list, and not on the mound, for his first turn Wednesday.But the Giants needed backup even earlier, after scratching No. 2 starter Jake Peavy because of back stiffness. So they sent Vogelsong to the mound and watched him enter into a war of attrition.Vogelsong received a two-run lead courtesy of Posey’s home run in the first inning, his first since last September, and then the right-hander flashed late-breaking stuff while striking out the first two batters he faced. Vogelsong led 2-1 in the third and nearly escaped when Paul Goldschmidt walked on a 3-2 pitch that didn’t miss the zone by much.Then Peralta appeared to hunt the bottom of the strike zone, lashing a 1-0 fastball that landed near the deepest reaches of the lower seats in right field.Vogelsong managed to pitch out of another jam in the fourth, aided by Posey’s swift play to field a bunt and throw out a runner at third base. Then the pitcher helped his cause while scoring the tying run in the fifth. Vogelsong singled, advanced to third on Nori Aoki’s double and used an impressive hook slide to score when aggressively sent home on Joe Panik’s sacrifice fly into the left field corner.But trouble surrounded Vogelsong again in the bottom of the inning. He appeared to find daylight with two on base when he threw a cutter that locked up Mark Trumbo for the second out. But Lamb worked him for an eight-pitch at-bat that included two-strike fouls on a changeup and slider. Vogelsong went back to the curve and Lamb didn’t miss, depositing his three-run shot into the right field seats.It was just Lamb’s third at-bat of the season and he already has accounted for seven RBIs.Panik, who is violently allergic to making the game’s final out, drew a two-out walk in the ninth. But Addison Reed struck out Angel Pagan to seal Chip Hale’s first victory as a major league manager.The Giants signed a familiar face, right-hander Kevin Correia, to a Triple-A contract after the 34-year-old was released by the Seattle Mariners. Correia, a longtime friend of the Bochy family, was 14-22 with a 4.59 ERA in 170 games (46 starts) for the Giants from 2003-08 before continuing his career with the Padres, Pirates, Twins and Dodgers. He was an All-Star for Pittsburgh in 2011.The Giants are short on Triple-A depth after raiding Sacramento to promote Chris Heston, who was due to start the RiverCats’ opener Sunday. Correia is expected to report to extended spring training to build his pitch count.