Posey, Sandoval lead Giants past Padres 5-1

Posey was recognized in a pregame ceremony with the "Willie Mac" award as the most inspirational player on the team. The 2010 NL Rookie of the Year then delivered another big hit when he drove in Marco Scutaro with a single off Casey Kelly (2-2) that gave San Francisco a 2-1 lead in the fifth inning.

"He's done that a few times this year," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Tremendous player. He was honored to receive that award. What a great player he is on both sides. He's done such a great job for us. He's done all the little things."

Posey helped Ryan Vogelsong (13-9) match his career high in wins and put the Giants in position to clinch a division title as early as Saturday. San Francisco would win the West on Saturday night with a win if the Los Angeles Dodgers lose earlier in the day to Cincinnati.

"It's in our hands," Bochy said. "When you're in this situation you want to go out there and take care of business. You want to get in through the front door not the back door."

Pablo Sandoval belted his fourth home run in three days, and Brandon Crawford and Scutaro had RBI singles as San Francisco matched a season high with its fifth straight win.

Chase Headley hit a solo shot for his 29th homer for the Padres. But he was thrown out at home trying to score the tying run on Yasmani Grandal's two-out double in the sixth. The Giants cut him down with a well-executed relay from left fielder Gregor Blanco to Crawford to Posey, who fielded the throw on a short hop and tagged Headley to preserve a 2-1 lead.

"We really didn't swing the bats very good tonight against Vogelsong," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Other than Chase, we really didn't threaten them. Vogelsong did a nice job. His curveball was working tonight as was his changeup. We couldn't mount any pressure."

Vogelsong, who had a 10.31 ERA over his past seven starts, reversed his recent slide by allowing just one run and five hits in six innings.

"I'm going to sleep for the first time in about a month tonight. I can tell you that," Vogelsong said. "I'd been trying to tweak some stuff here for a while. I finally found something that felt comfortable and easy to repeat. Somehow I got twisted around there along the way. It took me a while to get back into something that felt right."

The Giants broke it open with three runs in the sixth, capped by Sandoval's homer. After going 161 at-bats without a long ball, Sandoval has regained his power stroke this week and now has 12 homers this season.