The San Francisco Giants ended their six-game losing streak on Saturday with a 6-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Giants jumped on top right off the bat with three runs in the top of the first inning. After a pair of singles from right fielder Hunter Pence and catcher Buster Posey, third baseman Pablo Sandoval drove in the first run of the contest with a base hit to left center. Three batters later, with the bases loaded, left fielder Tyler Colvin smacked a single to left center that brought in two runs.
Sandoval struck again in the top of the second with another RBI single that made the game 4-0.
The Diamondbacks cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the inning. Second baseman Aaron Hill hit a leadoff double to right. Catcher Miguel Montero followed him with a double of his own, which brought Hill home. Two batters later, Montero scored on a double off the bat of left fielder David Peralta.
In the fifth, Colvin recorded his third RBI of the game with a ground out to second that scored shortstop Brandon Crawford, who had led the inning off with a triple.
In the bottom half of the inning, Arizona loaded the bases with a double and a pair of walks. Hill belted a base hit to right that scored two runs and pulled the D-Backs within one run.
Pence quickly made the score 6-4 with a solo home run in the top of the sixth. The shot went 441 feet and landed left field stands.
The Diamondbacks had their chances to cut into the deficit and possibly take the lead but failed to do so. In the seventh, they left the bases loaded. In the ninth, they had runners on second and third for first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, but he lined out to right to end the game, according to ESPN.
“We fought our way back, got two guys on and got the winning run to the plate, and he smashed it,” Diamondbacks’ manager Kirk Gibson said in his postgame press conference on MLB.com. “It just wasn’t our night. We had a lot of opportunities; they had a lot of opportunities. I think we were 4-for-11, they were 3-for-10 with runners in scoring position.”
San Francisco’s Ryan Vogelsong picked up the win, going five innings and allowing all four Arizona runs. Closer Sergio Romo recorded his 21st save of the year. Arizona’s starter Brandon McCarthy falls to 1-10 on the season, laboring through five innings in which he gave up five runs on 10 hits.
The rubber match of the series is Sunday afternoon.