SAN FRANCISCO -- Rookie left-hander Ty Blach pitched eight shutout innings to earn his first major-league win and Angel Pagan broke a scoreless tie with a fifth-inning home run off Clayton Kershaw on Saturday, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 3-0 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

The Giants' second consecutive win in the series came after the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals recorded earlier victories, allowing the Giants to hold their position between the two in the National League wild-card race.

The Mets (87-74) clinched the top wild-card spot with their win, leading the Giants (86-75) by one game with one to play, but hold the tie-breaker advantage because of a season-series win over San Francisco.

The Giants retained a one-game lead over the Cardinals (85-76) for the final wild-card playoff berth. A San Francisco win or St. Louis loss on Sunday would send the Giants to New York for the wild-card game on Wednesday.

Should the Giants and Cardinals finish the regular season in a tie, they would meet in a one-game tie-breaker on Monday in St. Louis.

The loss, meanwhile, locked the Dodgers (91-70) into the No. 3 seed in the NL playoffs, meaning they will open Friday at NL East champion Washington.

Blach, who wasn't even announced as the Giants' starting pitcher for Saturday's game until after Friday's win, made only one previous major-league start, and it wasn't a good one.

He was pulled after three innings last Sunday in San Diego, having allowed four hits and three walks but only two runs.

This time, Blach shut down the Dodgers on three hits and one walk over his eight innings.

Blach, who spent the first five months of the season at Triple-A Sacramento, completed eight innings only three times in 26 minor-league starts this season.

The Dodgers advanced only one baserunner into scoring position against the 25-year-old, that coming after Adrian Gonzalez singled and Yasmani Grandal walked with one out in the second inning.

Blach then got Joc Pederson to ground into a double play, ending the threat.

Blach (1-0) struck out six, including the side -- all looking -- in the third inning.

Sergio Romo pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning for his fourth save.

Kershaw retired 12 of the first 13 Giants before Pagan's leadoff home run in the fifth. It came on a 1-and-1 pitch and barely made it into the bleachers, bouncing off the top of the wall.

The homer was Pagan's 12th of the season, and was only the second Kershaw has allowed in his five starts since returning from a back injury. The other came in his first game back, Sept. 9 at Miami.

Pagan had a second hit that was equally important as it led to a two-run seventh inning that gave Blach and the shaky Giants bullpen some breathing room.

On the first pitch after Pagan led off the inning with a single, Brandon Crawford smacked a hit-and-run grounder off Kershaw and toward third baseman Justin Turner, who threw wildly to first base.

The ball rolled into the Dodgers' bullpen, allowing Pagan to score and Crawford to reach third.

Gordon Beckham hit Kershaw's next pitch to medium-deep center field for a sacrifice fly that plated Crawford and made it 3-0.

Both runs were unearned.

Kershaw (12-4) was pulled for a pinch hitter in the eighth inning. He allowed three runs (one earned) on six hits in seven innings, throwing an economical 82 pitches. He walked one and struck out four.

Pagan and Blach each had two hits for the Giants, who out-hit the Dodgers 7-3.

NOTES: Three hitters began Saturday with fewer than a .100 career batting average (minimum 25 at-bats) against Clayton Kershaw -- and two were in the Giants' starting lineup: 1B Brandon Belt (3-for-48, .063) and RF Hunter Pence (6-for-63, .095). The other is former Giants OF Andres Torres (2-for-34, .059). Belt had struck out 26 times in those 48 at-bats, nine more than any other batter against Kershaw. ... Dodgers INF Charlie Culberson, hero of his club's division-clinching win on Sunday, got his second big thrill of the week before Saturday's game when he was presented his game-used bat signed by retiring Dodgers broadcaster Vin Scully. ... Consistent with manager Bruce Bochy's insistence that the Giants focus on their own business rather than anything happening with the wild-card competition, two televisions in the home clubhouse before the game were tuned to college football while the New York Mets and St. Louis Cardinals were playing their games.