Giants Beat Dodgers On Extra-Inning Sacrifice By Hector Sanchez
LOS ANGELES (AP) - Pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez had a tiebreaking sacrifice fly in the 10th inning, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-1 Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series.
Brandon Belt added an RBI single for the Giants, who had tied the score at 1 when Brandon Hicks homered off Josh Beckett in the seventh.
J.P. Howell (1-3) issued a one-out walk in the 11th to Angel Pagan, who advanced on a wild pitch by Jamey Wright before the right-hander walked Hunter Pence and Buster Posey.
Sanchez, who came in 1 for 10 as a pinch-hitter with seven strikeouts, flied out to the warning track in right field to drive in Pagan. Belt followed with a single to make it 3-1.
Santiago Casilla (1-0) pitched 1 1-3 innings for the win, striking out Yasiel Puig with a runner at second to end the eighth before throwing a perfect ninth. Sergio Romo got three outs for his 11th save in as many chances.
Ryan Vogelsong yielded one run and five hits through 7 1-3 innings in his seventh start and third against the defending NL West champion Dodgers. The other two were San Francisco victories in which he did not get the decision.
The Giants are 5-0 in Vogelsong's last five starts against the Dodgers, and he's had a no-decision in all of them.
Beckett continued to pitch well despite little run support. The three-time All-Star went 6 2-3 innings, allowing a run and five hits.
It was the fifth straight start in which the Dodgers scored fewer than three runs while Beckett was in the game, leaving him with a loss and four no-decisions. He is 0-6 with a 4.12 ERA in 14 starts since his last victory on Sept. 30, 2012, when he beat Colorado 7-1 at Dodger Stadium.
Dodgers third baseman Juan Uribe left the game because of soreness in his right hamstring. He grounded into an inning-ending double play in the seventh and played one more inning in the field.
Los Angeles opened the scoring in the fifth on a sacrifice fly by Drew Butera.
Hicks homered to left field in the seventh to end a 4-for-30 skid, after striking out his first two times up. It was his sixth home run this season, doubling the total he had in 90 at-bats over the previous three years with Atlanta and Oakland.
Beckett walked three of his first seven batters, equaling his total in 19 2-3 innings over his previous three starts combined.
NOTES: Giants manager Bruce Bochy said RHP Matt Cain should be reinstated from the 15-day disabled list Saturday - the day he is eligible to come off - and start against Zack Greinke after missing two turns in the rotation. Cain hasn't pitched since April 23 because of a cut on the tip of his index finger, which occurred in the clubhouse kitchen at AT&T Park when he tried to catch a knife that fell out of his hand. ... In the previous three-game series between the teams in mid-April at San Francisco, the Giants and Dodgers combined for just 11 runs while the Giants took two of three. ... Pablo Sandoval hasn't driven home a run in 18 games and 61 at-bats since his RBI single against Howell on April 16 at San Francisco. Sandoval has two hits in his last 23 at-bats with runners in scoring position.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press.
