Game Wrap 5/5/2014: Giants 11 Pirates 10

The Giants came back from an 8-2 deficit in the 5'th inning to win in 13 innings.  They had 8 hits with RISP and no HR's.  As Vin Scully would say, "go figure!"   Key Lines:

Angel Pagan- 3 for 7, SB(6).  BA= .333.  Pagan continues to lead the way from the top of the order.  He had an assist from CF to boot.

Hunter Pence- 3 for 6, BB.  BA= .270.  I had a pretty good feeling when Pence drew a walk with 1 out  in the top of the 13'th.  I thought his speed on the bases might be the difference.  He got some help from  Pirates P Jared Hughes who hit Juan Perez with a pitch to advance Pence to 2B.  Then Jean Machi laid down a perfect bunt down the 3B line that Hughes scudded to 1B.  Pence scampered home when the ball got behind the first baseman for the winning run.

Buster Posey- 3 for 4, BB.  BA= .292.  Posey's BA is about 70 points higher than it was about 10 days ago.  He is stroking the ball!

Michael Morse- 2 for 5, 2 2B.  BA= .307.  Morse continues to swing a hot bat, but PLEASE tell me he did NOT pull a glute when he was jumping on the railing while the winning run scored!  I mean, that is sure what it LOOKED like!

Hector Sanchez- 4 for 7.  BA= .239.  Hector is hitting .381 over his last 5 games.  You can't tell me that Bruce Bochy is not thinking about running out a Hector/Buster lineup against all LHP's!

Yusmeiro Petit- 4.1 IP, 9 H, 8 R, 3 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 5.04.  Maybe they should have waited until 1 hour before game time to put Cain on the DL? Having 24 hours to think about this one might have gotten Petit a little too pumped?

Jeremy Affeldt- 1.1 IP, 2 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 1 K.  ERA= 0.00.  Affeldt stays in a groove.

Santiago Casilla- 2 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 1 BB, 4 K's.  ERA= 0.92.  Huge effort by Casilla to get the game into extra innings.

Jean Machi- 2 IP, 3 H, 0 R,  0 BB, 2 K's, W(5-0).  ERA= 0.53.  2 of the hits were comebackers off Machi's glove.  Ironically, both would have probably been outs had he not touched them.  Another huge effort by the Machi Man, punctuated by his tremendous sac bunt that probably should have been a hit.  Man, he got down that line in a hurry!

Sergio Romo- 1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 BB, 0 K, Save(10).  ERA= 1.88.  Things weren't looking good when Romo hit the leadoff batter, Walker, after going up 0-2 on him with McCutchen and Alvarez coming up.  He got McCutchen to fly out to Pagan in CF then made a beautiful series of pitches to induce a game-ending DP from Alvarez.  Unlike in previous years, Romo has weapons against LH batters in the 2-seamer and changeup.  He does not have to go to the slider against them, although he did steal a couple of strikes on Walker and Alvarez with little back-door sliders.  When the chips are down, though, he can go to either the changeup or 2-seamer as out pitches.

The Win was the Giants 6'th in a row and 4'th in a row on this road trip.  Their NL West leading record improved to 21-11.  The second place Rockies beat the Rangers 8-2 in interleague play and they remain 2 games behind the Giants.  The Dodgers are trailing the Nationals 4-0 late in their game.  If that holds up, the Dodgers will be 3.5 games behind in 3'rd place.  The 4'th place Padres are tied with KC 4-4 late in their game and are sitting at 7 games behind pending the outcome.  The last place D'Backs lost to the Brewers 8-3 to put the Snakes 11.5 games behind and the wheels seem to have completely come off down in Arizona.

Tim Hudson will try to keep the winning streak going and spare the bullpen in the process tomorrow evening facing RHP  and Giants nemesis Charlie Morton.