Giants come from behind to sweep Pirates
Brandon Belt #9 of the San Francisco Giants celebrates after scoring on a sacrifice fly against the Pittsburgh Pirates at PNC Park on July 2, 2017 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
(July 2, 2017 - Source: Justin K. Aller/Getty Images North America)
The San Francisco Giants (33-51) come from behind to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates (37-45) 5-3 and sweep their three-game series at PNC Park. The Giants are now on a six-game winning streak.
The game came to life in the fourth inning. With one out SS Jordy Mercer homered after a double from CF Gregory Polanco and drove in two runs for Pittsburgh. It was his eighth long ball of the season.
Pittsburgh’s SP Trevor Williams pitched six brilliant shutout innings but was replaced with RP Tony Watson after surrendering a leadoff walk to RF Hunter Pence and a double to C Buster Posey in the seventh.
Subsequent back-to-back singles from 1B Brandon Belt and SS Brandon Crawford drove in two runs for the Giants to tie the game.
The Giants went on to load the bases with another single by 3B Jae-gyun Hwang and took a 3-2 lead after a one-out sacrifice fly ball from PH Kelby Tomlinson.
Trevor Williams wound up allowing 3 hits, 1 walk and 2 earned runs while striking out 3. His ERA and WHIP improved to 4.67 and 1.22, respectively.
San Francisco’s SP Jeff Samardzija (4-9) pitched well even though the Pirates made him work hard to record outs. In 6 innings he gave up 6 hits and 2 earned runs while fanning 5. He now has a 4.54 ERA with a 1.14 WHIP.
The Giants extended their lead in the eighth. 2B Joe Panik led the inning off with a double and came home on a two-out home run from Brandon Belt. It was Belt’s 16th dinger of the year.
The Pirates kept their hopes alive with a two-out homer from LF John Jaso in the bottom of the frame. It was his seventh home run of the season.
RP Sam Dyson, who stood in for the injured CL Mark Melancon, pitched a perfect ninth to record his second save of the year.
Brandon Belt went 3-for-4 with 2 runs, 1 HR and 3 RBI. He is batting .235 and has 45 runs, 16 HR and 42 RBI in 2017.
The San Francisco Giants continue their road trip with a three-game series at the Detroit Tigers (36-44) from Tuesday to Thursday.
The Pittsburgh Pirates travel to the Philadelphia Phillies (27-53) to play a four-game series from Monday through Thursday.
Twitter: @ThomasKaunzner
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