Jonathan Sanchez tossed eight-plus strong innings and Buster Posey belted a pair of run-scoring doubles as the San Francisco Giants salvaged the finale of a three-game series with a 5-2 triumph over the Philadelphia Phillies on Thursday.
Pablo Sandoval blasted a solo homer, Jose Guillen and Juan Uribe added RBI singles and Freddy Sanchez scored twice for San Francisco (68-54), which moved to one full game behind the Phillies (68-52) in the chase for the wild card.
The offensive onslaught was more than enough for Jonathan Sanchez (9-8). The 27-year-old left-hander earned the Giants' first victory by a starting pitcher in 15 contests by allowing one run and two hits while striking out seven in this one.
Mike Sweeney had a two-run double in the ninth inning and Shane Victorino singled twice and scored for Philadelphia, which fell for just the sixth time in its last 26 games.
The loss kept the Phillies 2.5 games behind the NL East-leading Atlanta Braves, who dropped a 6-2 decision to the Washington Nationals earlier in the day.
Cole Hamels (7-10) permitted five runs and seven hits in five innings to suffer his third straight loss.
San Francisco | Philadelphia | |
Jonathan Sanchez | Player | Cole Hamels |
Win | W/L | Loss |
8.0 | IP | 5.0 |
7 | Strikeouts | 5 |
2 | Hits | 7 |
1.12 | ERA | 9.00 |
San Francisco | Philadelphia | |
Jose Guillen | Player | Shane Victorino |
2 | Hits | 2 |
1 | RBI | 0 |
0 | HR | 0 |
2 | TB | 2 |
.500 | Avg | .667 |
Team | Hits | HR | TB | Avg | LOB | K | RBI | BB | SB | Errors |
San Francisco | 8 | 1 | 13 | .242 | 7 | 9 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 |
Philadelphia | 4 | 0 | 5 | .129 | 12 | 8 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 0 |