Giants Squeak Past Marlins, 1-0; 1st Series Win Since All-Star Break
MIAMI (AP) — Two days after Brandon Crawford battered the Miami Marlins with seven hits, he beat them with one swing.
Crawford homered in the fourth inning and the San Francisco Giants won a series for the first time since the All-Star break, defeating Miami 1-0 Wednesday.
Crawford tied an NL record with seven hits in the opener of the three-game set. In the finale he put San Francisco ahead with his 11th homer leading off the fourth.
The Giants went 4-5 on their trip and improved to 8-16 since the All-Star break. They began the day tied for the NL West lead with the surging Dodgers, who played later Wednesday.
Jeff Samardzija (10-8) pitched 5 2/3 innings to best his former Notre Dame teammate, David Phelps. Samardzija had lost his past three starts.
Four relievers completed a five-hitter. Santiago Casilla pitched around a two-out double in the ninth by Ichiro Suzuki, striking out J.T. Realmuto to earn his 26th save.
Miami's lack of offense frustrated hitting coach Barry Bonds, who was ejected for the first time this season in the sixth inning for arguing about balls and strikes.
Suzuki singled and doubled to increase his career hit total to 3,002. Teammate Marcell Ozuna singled to end an 0-for-18 slump. But Miami bunched two hits in an inning only once — in the second — and Derek Dietrich was thrown out trying to stretch a single into a double.
San Francisco won with six hits.
Phelps (5-6), making his second start of the season after moving from the bullpen into the rotation, allowed one run in five innings.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Marlins slugger Giancarlo Stanton, nursing a sore right hip, pinch-hit with two on in the fifth and flied out to end the inning.
RECORD HOLDERS
Crawford visited before the game with Rennie Stennett about the NL record they share. In Monday's 14-inning victory in Miami, Crawford had the first seven-hit game since Stennett in 1975.
Stennett lives in South Florida.
"It was cool to meet him," Crawford said. "We talked about his seven-hit game. He said he had three hits and two hits the next couple of days, so he did a little better than I did the next day."
Crawford went 0 for 4 Tuesday.
UP NEXT
Both teams have Thursday off. The Giants begin a 10-game homestand Friday against Baltimore, with RHP Matt Cain (4-6, 5.16) scheduled to start against RHP Dylan Bundy (5-3, 3.05).
RHP Andrew Cashner (4-8, 4.96) is scheduled to start for the Marlins when they begin a three-game series Friday against the Chicago White Sox. It will be the first game for the White Sox in Miami since 2004.
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