A week after being swept at home by the Pittsburgh Pirates, the San Francisco Giants came to PNC Park and nearly returned the favor.
The Giants broke a tied game by scoring two runs in the ninth inning off Dennis Santana for a 4-2 win Wednesday afternoon before 14,005 at PNC Park to take two out of three games in the series.
Only a walk-off win by the Pirates on Monday night prevented a San Francisco sweep.
Pirates lefty Andrew Heaney got out of a first inning jam after Heliot Ramos hit a leadoff single and Rafael Devers was hit by a pitch. With runners on the corners, Heaney got Matt Chapman to fly out to right and Casey Schmitt to center to escape unscathed.
Giants lefty Robbie Ray didn’t fare as well. He walked the first two batters he faced before Bryan Reynolds grounded into a 6-4-3 double play. Liover Peguero advanced to third, however, and scored on a single to left by Nick Gonzales to give the Pirates a 1-0 lead in the first inning.
Jerar Encarnacion tied the game in the fifth with a leadoff home run — his second in as many games — by driving Heaney’s 2-0 fastball 442 feet to left.
The Pirates took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth when Isiah Kiner-Falefa hit a leadoff single, stole second base, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on a sacrifice fly by Tommy Pham.
The Giants loaded the bases against Isaac Mattson in the eighth, when pinch-hitter Patrick Bailey hit a leadoff single, Devers drew a one-out walk and Adames dropped a bloop single into right. The Pirates brought in Dennis Santana, but the Giants tied it on a sacrifice fly to left by Chapman that scored Bailey.
With two outs, Gonzales and McCutchen hit successive singles to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Oneil Cruz pinch-hit for Joey Bart and worked a full count before Ryan Walker got him swinging at a 95-mph sinker at the top of the zone to end the scoring threat.
In the ninth, Jung Hoo Lee doubled to the right field corner and scored on a double to the same spot by pinch hitter Dominic Smith to give the Giants a 3-2 lead. Bailey lined a single to right to drive in Smith to extend the lead to 4-2.