Giants Still Streaking, Edge Pirates 2-1 In 11
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Pirates right-hander Daniel Hudson was only thinking about Giants star Buster Posey when he uncorked a full-count slider Saturday.
When the ball skipped in the dirt and got away from the catcher, Denard Span was ready to pounce.
Span sprinted home from third on Hudson's wild pitch in the 11th inning to give San Francisco a 2-1 victory over Pittsburgh on Saturday.
With Span on third and Joe Panik at second, Hudson (1-4) choked a 3-2 breaking pitch to Posey, who is hitting .340 this season.
"If I was going to get beat there, I was going to get beat by the best pitch," Hudson said. "For a right-hander this year, that's my slider. I was just trying to make a quality pitch. If I walk him, I walk him. I just got a little bit too much bite on it and got a bad kick."
Hudson's pitch bounced ahead of the plate, glanced off catcher Elias Diaz and skidded into the dugout, allowing Span to score easily. Though it was Span that scored the run, Giants manager Bruce Bochy was quick to credit the battle of Posey, who fell behind 0-2, for the winning run.
"We've got a pretty good hitter up there, and he had a great at-bat," Bochy said. "Granted, he didn't knock him in, but they're being careful with him, and that helped induce the wild pitch."
Josh Osich (2-1) got the win. Sam Dyson pitched a scoreless 11th for his first save since being acquired from the Texas Rangers in early June.
In the ninth, Giants reliever Hunter Strickland walked the bases loaded but got Diaz to strike out looking. Diaz finished 0 for 5 with two strikeouts and left eight men on base.
Andrew McCutchen, David Freese and Josh Bell — Pittsburgh's 3-4-5 hitters — combined for eight walks, including three each by Freese and Bell. The Pirates walked 10 times in total but left 15 men on base.
"We put them out there every inning, just about," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "At the end of the day, it's all about scoring runs. We worked to get out there, but we weren't able to get them in today."
Matt Moore worked around six walks and four hits to pitch one-run ball over 5 2/3 innings. The Giants starter escaped a bases-loaded jam in the first and left two on in the third. Moore was lifted for reliever George Kontos with the bases loaded in the sixth, and Kontos struck out Josh Harrison to end that threat.
Chad Kuhl went six innings for the Pirates, snapping a streak of 12 consecutive starts of five innings or fewer. Kuhl carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a homer to Austin Slater. Kuhl was replaced for a pinch-hitter in the bottom of the sixth after throwing 75 pitches.
Bell's RBI single scored McCutchen in the third inning for the only Pirates run.
MAKING MOVES
The Giants recalled RHP Chris Stratton from Triple-A Sacramento and optioned RHP Dan Slania, who made his major league debut on Friday with one scoreless inning. Stratton pitched in two games with San Francisco earlier this season and had a 5.71 ERA in 12 starts with Sacramento. He's expected to be used in the bullpen.
San Francisco pitching prospect Joan Gregorio was suspended for the remainder of the season after testing positive for a performance-enhancing substance. Gregorio, 25, was 4-4 with a 4.01 ERA in 13 starts with Sacramento.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: 3B Eduardo Nunez (strained hamstring) went 1 for 3 with a double and a strikeout in his first rehab appearance with Double-A Richmond.
UP NEXT
Giants: Jeff Samardzija (3-9, 4.63 ERA) will start in the series finale Sunday. In his career at PNC Park, he's 4-2 with a 2.21 ERA in 12 games.
Pirates: Trevor Williams (3-3, 4.82) has gone seven straight stars without recording a loss, but is just 1-0 in that stretch.
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