MLB Scores: Giants 8 Marlins 7

Monday's series opener with the Giants was the tale of two games. It lasted just as long, too.

What started with a pitcher's duel between two of the National League's most dominant arms, turned into a pair of implosions by the bullpens.

Starters Jose Fernandez and Johnny Cueto kept the game scoreless through three innings. The game fit the bill.

The only true highlight three innings in was a laser throw out of right field from Giancarlo Stanton. He gunned a 94-mph strike to nail the running Brandon Crawford for the final out of the third.

Miami's bats woke up in the fourth. Christian Yelich doubled home Martin Prado and came home to score on an RBI hit from Stanton to put the game's first two runs on the board.

San Fran put one on the board half an inning later, before a three-run fifth put the Fish up 5-1. Prado and Yelich were at it again as they went back-to-back against Cueto.

Fernandez would polish off the sixth and exit with a pitch count of 106 pitches.

This is where everything fell apart.

Relievers Hunter Cervenka, Nick Wittgren and Brian Ellington combined for a sloppy seventh, allowing five runs and coughing up the lead for Fernandez.

The seesaw battle commenced from there. Yelich knocked in another two runs on a single in the seventh to put the Marlins right back on top, 7-6.

The bullpen continued its miserable streak for the Marlins as Kyle Barraclough lost the strike zone in the eighth. He walked a pair of runners and gave up the tying run -- the fourth hit by Crawford (finished 7-for-8).

With all of the pitching woes for the Fish, Dustin McGowan, the last remaining available arm in the 'pen, pitched out of a first-and-third, nobody out situation in the 11th. It was highlighted by a sensational diving stop by Adeiny Hechavarria to close out the frame.

McGowan wiggled his way out of trouble in the 13th once again when he loaded the based with two intentional walks to face the pinch-hitting Madison Bumgarner -- the best hitting pitcher San Fran has at its disposal. Bumgarner struck out to keep the marathon contest going into its fifth hour.

Andrew Cashner, who started Saturday's game versus the Rockies, came in to relieve McGowan after his pitch count surpassed 60 pitches in his fourth inning.

Crawford, fittingly so, barreled up his seventh (yes, seventh) hit of the game to plate home Brandon Belt, giving the Giants an 8-7 lead they would not relinquish.

Source: FanGraphs