Jake Peavy, Giants edge Stephen Strasburg, Nats in NLDS opener

WASHINGTON – Put Jake Peavy on the San Francisco Giants, and he suddenly turns into quite a postseason performer.

Same for a couple of rookies, Hunter Strickland and Joe Panik.

Seems that October aura manager Bruce Bochy has cultivated with the Giants rubs off on anyone joining the club.

The intense Peavy took a no-hitter into the fifth inning, Strickland and the rest of San Francisco’s rested bullpen barely protected a lead, and the wild-card Giants won their league-record ninth consecutive postseason game by beating Stephen Strasburg and the Washington Nationals 3-2 on Friday in an N.L. Division Series opener.

“Nobody is scared of the moment,” said Peavy, who won the 2007 N.L. Cy Young Award with San Diego and last year’s World Series with Boston, but was 0-3 with a 9.27 ERA in five previous starts beyond the regular season. “We understand that we might not be, man for man, the favorites.”

Peavy finally earned his first postseason win, allowing only two hits in 5 2/3 scoreless innings.

Strickland spent much of the season at High-A and Double-A in the minors, and has all of seven major league innings on his resume, but struck out Ian Desmond swinging at a 100 mph fastball with the bases loaded in the sixth after Peavy left, cussing up a storm.

Panik provided a nice defensive play at second base to end the seventh and contributed one of San Francisco’s three RBI singles. Buster Posey and Brandon Belt drove in San Francisco’s other runs.