Austin Slater slugged a tying two-run, pinch-hit homer in the eighth inning and Jason Vosler followed with his first major league blast as the San Francisco Giants rallied for a 5-4 victory over the struggling Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday night at Phoenix.
Vosler was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day when Brandon Belt (oblique) was placed on the 10-day injured list. He entered the game in the sixth inning as a pinch-runner when Darin Ruf sustained an apparent hamstring injury while rounding first base after his second single of the game.
Buster Posey and Mike Yastrzemski also drove in runs as San Francisco overcame a four-run deficit to sweep the two-game series.
Nick Ahmed, Josh Rojas and Pavin Smith had three hits apiece for Arizona, which left the bases loaded in the ninth while dropping its 10th straight game and 13th of its last 14.
Donovan Solano started the eighth-inning outburst with a double into the right-field corner against Diamondbacks right-hander Stefan Crichton, who then retired the next two batters.
With left-handed-hitting Alex Dickerson due up, Arizona manager Torey Lovullo pulled Crichton and brought in left-hander Alex Young (1-4). The Giants countered by calling on the right-handed-hitting Slater and he bashed a 2-2 cutter 460 feet into the second deck in left to tie the score.
The left-handed hitting Vosler followed by clearing the fence in right on the ninth pitch of the at-bat. He sent a 3-2 fastball 375 feet to put San Francisco ahead.
Giants right-hander Nick Tropeano (1-0) pitched a perfect seventh and left-hander Jake McGee tossed a flawless eighth. Right-hander Tyler Rogers worked out of a heavy jam in the ninth for his sixth save.
Arizona loaded the bases with one out on singles by Smith, Ahmed and Rojas. Rogers struck out Ketel Marte and retired Eduardo Escobar on a grounder to end it.
Diamondbacks right-hander Merrill Kelly allowed two runs and five hits in six innings. He struck out six and walked none.
Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto gave up four runs and eight hits over five innings. He struck out five and walked none.
Arizona started fast as Rojas began the bottom of the first with a double and scored on Marte's single.
The Diamondbacks tacked on three runs in the second. Ahmed's RBI single made it 2-0 and Rojas later delivered a two-run single.
San Francisco scored twice in the sixth. Yastrzemski laced a run-scoring double, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Posey's infield out.
--Field Level Media
San Francisco | Arizona | |
Johnny Cueto | Player | Merrill Kelly |
No Decision | W/L | No Decision |
5.0 | IP | 6.0 |
5 | Strikeouts | 6 |
8 | Hits | 5 |
7.20 | ERA | 3.00 |
San Francisco | Arizona | |
Darin Ruf | Player | Nick Ahmed |
2 | Hits | 3 |
0 | RBI | 1 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 4 |
.667 | Avg | .750 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
San Francisco | 9 | 2 | 17 | .257 | 10 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Arizona | 13 | 0 | 15 | .342 | 20 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 |