Giants Get Closer, Beat Dodgers 5-2 In 13 Innings
Pinch-hitter Andrew Susac singled home the go-ahead run in the 13th inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat the first-place Los Angeles Dodgers 5-2 Monday night to climb within 3 1/2 games of the NL West lead.
Susac singled to left field off Kevin Correia (2-4), scoring Brandon Belt. San Francisco tacked on two more runs to take a 5-2 lead on Gregor Blanco's double.
Blanco homered and scored twice for the Giants, who snapped a three-game skid and remained tied with Pittsburgh for the two NL wild-card slots. San Francisco can clinch a playoff berth Tuesday night with a win and a Milwaukee loss.
Santiago Casilla (3-3) got the victory with two innings of relief, and Hunter Strickland pitched the 13th to earn his first career save.
The Dodgers didn't have a hit after the sixth inning and put only three runners on base during that stretch. Two were hit by pitches and the other reached on a throwing error.
The Giants had runners in scoring position in the eighth, ninth, 10th and 11th but failed to score.
Brandon Belt tried to score on Brandon Crawford's single to center in the 11th, but he got nailed by Yasiel Puig's pinpoint throw to the plate. Joaquin Arias struck out swinging to end the inning.
The Dodgers tied it 2-all in the fifth on Carl Crawford's leadoff homer and Dee Gordon's sacrifice fly that scored Juan Uribe, who doubled.
The Giants extended their lead to 2-0 in the third on Joe Panik's sacrifice to the pitcher that scored Blanco from third after Matt Kemp's three-base error in right field.
A week after Kemp and Puig exchanged words in the dugout at Colorado, they crossed each other up on Blanco's routine fly. Both players were converging toward center field to make a play on the ball.
Kemp raced over and appeared to call him off, but Puig seemed indecisive and got in the way of the ball, which dropped. Kemp and Puig returned to their positions and looked at each other from a distance.
Blanco homered on a 3-2 count leading off the game to give the Giants the lead in front of 53,500, the biggest crowd in the majors this season.
Puig was 0 for 4 with a strikeout and got hit by a pitch. Kemp was hitless in five at-bats with two strikeouts.
Giants: RHP Tim Hudson (hip) threw a bullpen session and is scheduled to start Wednesday, but could be replaced by RHP Tim Lincecum depending on how he feels. ... OF Michael Morse (strained left oblique) had an MRI in San Francisco but had not received the results. ... OF Angel Pagan (inflamed nerve in lower back) missed his third straight game and there was no timetable given for his return.
Dodgers: LHP Hyun-Jin Ryu (shoulder inflammation) is throwing and will slowly be moved forward as his shoulder allows.
Giants: Madison Bumgarner (18-9, 2.91 ERA) takes the mound with 11 career wins against the Dodgers, the second-most of any active pitcher against them. The Giants have won each of his last six starts. The left-hander's 18 wins are the most by a Giants pitcher since Shawn Estes had 19 in 1997.
Dodgers: Zack Greinke (15-8, 2.76) owns a 4-0 record with a 1.38 ERA in four starts this season against the Giants.