Sanchez’s single lifts Giants past Dodgers
SAN FRANCISCO — Hector Sanchez had his wife and young daughter waiting in the parking lot. He had to do something to end the game.
ADVERTISING
Sanchez singled home the winning run with two outs in the 12th inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the Los Angeles Dodgers 3-2 Tuesday night after Brandon Belt’s tying double in the ninth.
“They’ve been waiting for 3 hours,” Sanchez said. “My daughter has school tomorrow.”
Hunter Pence had three hits for the Giants, who have won three of four.
Tim Lincecum and Josh Beckett both pitched well for five innings but were long gone by the time this one finally ended.
“When you play hard and win in the last minute, it’s a lot of fun,” Belt said.
Brandon Crawford singled off Brandon League (0-1) with one out in the 12th and advanced to second on a groundout by Brandon Hicks. His bouncer deflected off third baseman Juan Uribe to shortstop Hanley Ramirez, who threw to first for the out.
But the Dodgers were unable to get the lead runner on the play, and it cost them.
Crawford went to third on a wild pitch and Sanchez hit a sharp one-hopper that glanced off the glove of diving second baseman Justin Turner and into center field.
“Every day is different,” said Sanchez, who entered in the 10th inning. “I have to be ready for any situation. This is a great moment to enjoy.”
Turner slammed his hand on the ground in frustration.
“I got lucky,” Sanchez said.
Yusmeiro Petit (1-1) worked a scoreless inning for the win in a game that took 4 hours, 54 minutes and ended after midnight on the West Coast.
Angel Pagan singled with one out in the ninth and Belt followed with a double into the left-field corner against closer Kenley Jansen. Pagan scored to tie it at 2.
“It is frustrating. We had that game, man,” Jansen said. “It’s going to be us and them the whole year. They never quit. They keep playing hard.”
Crawford also drove in a run for the Giants.
Turner’s pinch-hit single in the seventh inning gave the Dodgers a 2-1 lead.
Uribe had three hits, including a home run and a double, and scored twice for the Dodgers, who had their three-game winning streak snapped. Yasiel Puig added two hits, including a triple.
Juan Gutierrez pitched 2 1-3 shutout innings with three strikeouts to keep the Giants close.
“It was a well-pitched game on both sides,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “We left a lot of runners stranded. When you don’t come through you just have to keep fighting until you finally get a big hit.”
Beckett allowed two hits over five scoreless innings in his second start of the season for the Dodgers. He walked five and struck out four.
“Most games that we play against these guys are going to be tight,” Beckett said. “We just came up on the short end.”
Lincecum gave up one run and five hits in five innings. He did not walk a batter and struck out five.
Los Angeles had the bases loaded with one out in the fourth, but Lincecum struck out Uribe and Tim Federowicz to end the threat.
The Giants also had the bases loaded in the fourth with one out. Beckett struck out Michael Morse swinging before retiring Crawford on a routine grounder.
Beckett walked the bases loaded with two outs in the fifth but got Buster Posey on a fly to center field.
The Giants also left the bases loaded in the 10th.
REDS 7, PIRATES 5
CINCINNATI — Mike Leake doubled and hit a two-run homer Tuesday night, ending Gerrit Cole’s winning streak in a victory that completed two days full of homers and delays.
First, the NL Central rivals completed a game that was suspended in the sixth inning because of rain the previous night. Andrew McCutchen doubled and came around on Russell Martin’s single in the seventh inning, giving the Pirates an 8-7 win.
Leake (2-1) gave up three runs and five hits in 6 2-3 innings for a split. The right-hander has won his last four starts against the Pirates. Jonathan Broxton pitched out of a two-on threat in the ninth, converting his first save chance.
Leake, who has the most hits by a major league pitcher since 2010, doubled and scored in the third. He hit his third career homer in the sixth off Cole (2-1), who had won his last six starts.
Todd Frazier hit his second homer in two games and Joey Votto had four hits.
Neil Walker hit three of Pittsburgh’s seven homers in the two games.
The teams wore their customary uniforms for the completion of the suspended game, then switched to commemorative No. 42 Jackie Robinson jerseys for the later game, which started 5 minutes later than originally scheduled.
The teams put on a record-setting show Monday night before the game was suspended after six innings tied 7-all. They combined for 10 homers in those six innings, the most for a game in Great American Ball Park’s 12 seasons.
When play resumed, McCutchen doubled off Sam LeCure (0-1).
Bryan Morris (2-0) gave up Mesoraco’s tying solo homer in the sixth inning Monday night, but was still the pitcher of record. Jason Grilli pitched the ninth for his fourth save in five chances.
MARLINS 11, NATIONALS 2
MIAMI — Giancarlo Stanton tied a career high with five RBIs, including a three-run homer off Stephen Strasburg, and Miami broke an eight-game losing streak by beating Washington.
Strasburg (1-2) allowed six runs and eight hits in four innings. He fell to 2-3 at Marlins Park with an ERA of 8.61.
Tom Koehler (2-1) yielded one hit and five walks in seven scoreless innings to lower his ERA to 1.89. The performance was a welcome change for a team that had an ERA of 6.12 during the losing streak.
Both benches and bullpens cleared briefly in the fourth inning when the Nationals’ Ian Desmond and Marlins catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia engaged in a heated, nose-to-nose conversation at home plate.
Desmond became annoyed when he barely avoided being hit by an inside pitch from Koehler. The confrontation didn’t escalate.
CARDINALS 6, BREWERS 1
MILWAUKEE — Shelby Miller struck out seven and allowed three hits over six innings, and Mark Ellis had two RBIs in his return from the disabled list to lead St. Louis over Milwaukee.
Matt Holliday and Jhonny Peralta homered in the ninth for the Cardinals, who handed the Brewers their second straight loss following a nine-game winning streak.
Miller (1-2) routinely fired fastballs clocked in the mid-90s (mph) and gave up only a homer to Aramis Ramirez in the fourth. The Brewers have one run and six hits in the first two games of the series.
Marco Estrada (1-1) allowed three runs in six innings.
METS 9, DIAMONDBACKS 0
PHOENIX — Kirk Nieuwenhuis had three hits and three RBIs in his season debut, Jenrry Mejia pitched five effective innings in a combined three-hitter and New York routed the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks.
The Mets placed center fielder Juan Lagares on the 15-day disabled list with a pulled hamstring and called up Nieuwenhuis from the minors before the game. He slid into Lagares’ spot nicely, hitting a two-run homer during a six-run fourth inning against Bronson Arroyo (1-1) and adding a diving catch in the fifth.
Mejia (2-0) was sharp before leaving with a torn blister. Eric Young Jr. had three hits and two RBIs, and the Mets finished with 12 hits to ensure a winning record on their nine-game road trip.
The Diamondbacks had another awful night on the mound, losing their seventh straight home game and eighth in nine at Chase Field. Arroyo allowed 10 runs and nine hits in 3 1-3 innings.