Giants pull away in the ninth to beat Cardinals

San Francisco Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto throws against the St. Louis Cardinals during the first inning of a baseball game Friday, June 3, 2016, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Scott Kane)

The San Francisco Giants (35-22) pull away in the ninth inning as they win at the St. Louis Cardinals (28-27) 5-1 in the opener of their three-game series.

The home team opened the score in the third inning. With one out, 3B Matt Carpenter reached first base on a throwing error by 1B Brandon Belt and scored on a two-out single from RF Stephen Piscotty.

The Giants took the lead in the top of the fourth inning. 2B Joe Panik hit a leadoff single and reached second base on a groundout from 3B Matt Duffy. C Buster Posey followed with a single and moved Joe Panik to third base.

Back-to-back singles from Brandon Belt and SS Brandon Crawford drove in Joe Panik and Buster Posey to give San Francisco a 2-1 lead.

San Francisco’s SP Johnny Cueto (9-1) pitched 6 innings, allowing 4 hits and 5 walks while striking out 1. He now has a 2.16 ERA on the season with a 1.05 WHIP.

Adam Wainwright (5-4) worked 7 innings, giving up 5 hits 1 walk and 2 earned runs while fanning 6. His ERA and WHIP improved to 5.40 and 1.41, respectively.

After the starters were relieved the game became a battle of the bullpens. San Francisco’s manager Bruce Bochy went to such lengths as to use three different relief pitchers based on matchups to get three outs.

In the ninth inning St. Louis manager Mike Matheny called CL Trevor Rosenthal to the mound. Rosenthal, who is struggling with his control, issued three consecutive walks to LF Gregor Blanco, RF Jarrett Parker and PH Kelby Tomlinson before he was replaced with RP Dean Kiekhefer.

CF Denard Span stepped to the plate and drove in Gregor Blanco and Jarrett Parker with a single, while Kelby Tomlinson advanced to third base. After Joe Panik popped out, Matt Duffy laid down a sacrifice bunt and Kelby Tomlinson came home for the final score of 5-1.