Homer By Polanco Helps Pittsburgh Pirates Beat San Francisco Giants
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Gregory Polanco had a homer and four RBIs, Ryan Vogelsong won in his return to AT&T Park and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat the San Francisco Giants 8-5 on Monday night.
Andrew McCutchen added two hits, two RBIs and made a spectacular diving , backhanded catch in the eighth to help Pittsburgh move within one game of idle St. Louis for the second NL wild card.
That was enough for Vogelsong (2-2) to win despite an up-and-down outing.
Vogelsong, who spent parts of seven seasons with the Giants and won two World Series, allowed four runs over 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out one.
An All-Star with San Francisco in 2011, Vogelsong received an extended standing ovation when he took the mound in the first inning and again when he left in the sixth.
Denard Span had three hits, including a home run, and Eduardo Nunez also homered for the Giants.
Polanco hit a two-run double off starter Matt Moore (0-2) in the fourth, then drove in two more runs with his 17th home run of the season in the sixth.
Francisco Cervelli singled, walked twice and made a sparkling defensive play to tag out a runner at home to help Vogelsong win for the first time since coming off the 60-day DL after being hit in the face with a pitch on May 23.
Tony Watson, the fourth Pirates reliever, retired three batters for his sixth save.
Vogelsong got off to a rough start when he walked Joe Panik with the bases loaded in the first inning, then gave up an RBI single to Hunter Pence in the third.
San Francisco missed a chance to add on when Pence overran third base on Nunez's double and was thrown out while scrambling back to the bag.
Moore allowed five runs over six innings.
Pence made a spectacular defensive play when he caught Josh Harrison's foul ball while on his back after stumbling on the mound in the visiting team's bullpen.
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