The San Francisco Giants were clicking on all cylinders as they whipped the Padres 7-3 in San Diego on Thursday, cutting San Diego’s division lead to one game. Matt Cain took a three hitter into the 9th inning to get his second win in 11 career starts at Petco Field, and the Giants hitters pounded four home runs for the first time since the notorious pitcher’s park opened in 2004.

Giants first baseman Aubrey Huff, who had one of the Giants four home runs, discussed the bigness of the series and the game:

This is a big series. Obviously, coming out and getting the first one is big. You lose this game and go down three to the Padres, it’s deflating. Now we’re down to one. We’ve got three more games here, and we’ve got to keep rolling. If you win the first one and lose the next three, it doesn’t mean much.

Huff and rookie sensation Buster Posey hit two-run shots, while Juan Uribe and Pat Burrell added solo blasts.  The Giants got their first run in the first inning after Andres Torres led off the game with a triple and was driven home when Freddy Sanchez singled. The victory was correctly predicted by Steve of SportsUntapped.

The pitching matchups for the rest of the series:

• Friday night: Jonathan Sanchez (10-8) vs. Clayton Richard (12-6)
• Saturday afternoon: Madison Bumgarner (5-4) vs. Tim Stauffer (3-3)
• Sunday afternoon: Tim Lincecum (13-9) vs. Mat Latos (14-5)

This season, Richard, is 3-0 with a 2.05 ERA in four starts against the Giants. Saturday, Giants rookie faces Madison Bumgarner faces Tim Stauffer, who had been a reliever all season before going four innings in an emergency start on Monday when Mat Latos got bumped back a day with horrible stomach problems. The teams’ aces battle on Sunday, and Lincecum will need to look more like the pitcher who won Cy Young awards the past two seasons and less like the guy who’s been so inconsistent this year. Latos will try to extend his Major League record streak of starts allowing two or fewer runs.