Brandon Crawford Grand Slam Home Run - First Career Hit/RBI/Home Run

MILWAUKEE -- Brandon Crawford came to the Giants in the same 2008 draft class with Buster Posey. They reported to instructional league together. They are fast friends.

Now Posey is laid up with a shattered ankle, and Crawford gave him a moment to feel no pain Friday night.

The shortstop from Pleasanton became the sixth player in baseball history to hit a grand slam in his major league debut, rescuing the grieving Giants in the seventh inning while powering them to a badly-needed 5-4 victory over the Milwaukee Brewers at Miller Park.

It was a stunning way to break into the bigs. The 24-year-old former UCLA infielder joined Bobby Bonds in 1968 as the only Giants to hit a slam in their first big league game.

"It was all unreal. Awesome. Still, I kind of have jitters about it," said Crawford, his neck and ears still streaked with shaving cream after getting nailed with the ol' pie-in-the-face gag. "It's all a little bit unbelievable right now."

The circumstances made it all the more unforgettable.

Shut out a day earlier and shocked numb over probably losing Posey for the remainder of the season, the Giants already had lost manager Bruce Bochy to an ejection and were trailing 3-1 when Aubrey Huff threaded a double down the first-base line, Nate Schierholtz singled, and Miguel Tejada walked.

Up stepped Crawford, who joined the Giants a day earlier from Single-A San Jose. He had broken his left index finger while trying to bunt on the third-to-last day of spring training. He had been at San Jose just two weeks and hadn't played a game above Double-A in his career, but the Giants needed a capable defensive shortstop.

"In the spring, it was the best I've felt hitting-wise," Crawford said. "I was getting back to that the last couple days."

He put a good swing on a curveball from Shaun Marcum, lifting it over the right-center-field wall.

"Oh my God, bases loaded, I'm thinking, 'Swing first pitch. He just walked Miggy. He'll give you something to hit,' " Huff said. "The ball went over the wall, and you could just feel the whole weight come off. You could breathe."

Tim Lincecum turned it up a notch while protecting the lead in his seventh and final inning.

"Big moment for him. Bigger for the team, I think, considering what we've gone through," Lincecum said.

A Posey jersey hung in an empty locker between Lincecum and Sergio Romo's space in the Giants clubhouse.

"He's with us in spirit," Lincecum said.

Crawford became the first Giant to hit a grand slam for his first big league hit since Brian Dallimore in 2004. And of course, there was Bonds' slam, which stamped him as a breakthrough star. The runners who scored on that round-tripper were Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Jim Ray Hart.

The names were less luminous as they trotted home at Miller Park, but the run-starved Giants eagerly took them. They needed a jolt to wake them from the stupor of losing Posey, their cleanup hitter and catcher -- something Bochy sought to do in a pregame meeting.

"There will be questions about how good we will be without Buster," Bochy said. "We have to answer that question. You can't always control what happens on the field. But you can control how you respond. We have to respond the right way, and that's to keep fighting."

There was no better symbol of that spirit than Posey's replacement, Eli Whiteside, who didn't back down as another home-plate collision unfolded in the eighth.

Jonathan Lucroy hit a bases-loaded single to left field, and Prince Fielder -- the widest load in the big leagues -- tried to score the tying run from second base. He shoved Whiteside in a bid to dislodge the ball after Cody Ross's one-hop throw beat him to the plate.

Whiteside did more than absorb the impact. He flung his arms at Fielder, too, and then flipped the ball dismissively to the umpire.

"As soon as he hit it, I knew they'd send him, and I knew what he'd try to do," Whiteside said. "He's coming at you. There's no rule in the book that says you can't take it to him."

Keep fighting, right?

"We always kid around and say Whitey's the last person you want to upset," Ross said. "He's strong -- just a big human being. He's the nicest guy in the world, but you can tell if he gets upset, he could do some damage.

"I'm just glad he tagged him out and everybody survived."

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[tim55lincecum]

I was there!!!

[loluScoT]

daniel nava. first at bat, first pitch, first hit, first rbi, first home run, first grandslam. always a great way to start off your career in the mlb

[b017ni3]

@jamence - huh? what's up with that comment?

[jamence]

@b017ni3 Brett Pill...

[b017ni3]

@kellon511 - nope, he hit his grand slam in the 7th inning, it was his 3rd at bat...now, last week the Giants brought up Brett Pill and he hit his first major league home run with his very first swing...no Giant has hit a homer in their first at bat since Will Clark did it against Nolan Ryan, I wish I could remember the year, but I think it was 1985 or 1986...

[kellon511]

First Career AB?

[nickbro1997]

@theyearofourlordig88 little girrafe is brandon belt

[theyearofourlordig88]

our little giraffe

[theyearofourlordig88]

@JDnCoke1992

good old mikey

[pussyliquor02]

very strong SS and hey, you have to be a little good for your first hit to be a Grand Slam.. am i right?