Major League Baseball
San Diego 12, San Francisco 9
When: 10:15 PM ET, Friday, July 21, 2017
Where: AT&T Park, San Francisco, California
Temperature: 62°
Umpires: Home - Lazaro Diaz, 1B - Jeff Nelson, 2B - Cory Blaser, 3B - Doug Eddings
Attendance: 41145

SAN FRANCISCO -- Matt Szczur took a shot at individual glory Friday night and whiffed.

Then he went after something he considered more important -- a team win -- and came through.

The fourth hits of the game by Szczur, Jose Pirela and Carlos Asuaje drove in runs in the 11th inning, delivering the San Diego Padres a 12-9 victory over the San Francisco Giants.

Wil Myers and Hector Sanchez homered for the Padres, who have prevailed in eight of their last 11 games against the Giants and seven of their last eight visits to AT&T Park.

"The story is the guys just kept fighting," said Padres manager Andy Green, whose team trailed 4-0, 5-1 and 6-2 at different stages of the first four innings. "That was as resilient as we've been all season long."

Hunter Pence had three hits and two RBIs for the Giants, who blew a four-run lead for just the second time this season.

"It was a grind all night, but for our guys to come back there in the ninth, it was quite a comeback there," Giants manager Bruce Bochy noted. "It was a shame we couldn't find a way to win that ballgame."

Hunter Renfroe greeted right-hander George Kontos (0-4), the seventh Giants pitcher, with a single to open the 11th.

After a walk to Erick Aybar and Luis Torrens' sacrifice bunt, Szczur drove a 3-1 pitch into left field to score Renfroe and break a 9-9 tie.

The different-making hit capped quite a night for Szczur, who started the game on the bench.

He entered the contest in the fifth inning in a double-switch, then came within a home run of becoming the first major-leaguer ever to record a cycle as a reserve.

Szczur had two shots at it, but struck out in the ninth before delivering a second single with the game on the line in the 11th.

"I was (going for the cycle) for sure in the (ninth)," he admitted. "In the 11th, I was just trying to get on base. I guess it (coming so close to a cycle as a reserve) is kinda hard to believe."

Pirela and Asuaje followed Szczur's hit with consecutive singles of their own, creating a three-run cushion for right-hander Phil Maton (2-0), who worked the final two inningsa and got the win.

The Giants were one out from defeat, trailing 9-6 in the ninth, before pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie capped a three-run rally with a two-run, pinch-hit home run off Padres closer Brandon Maurer.

Buster Posey had drawn a two-out walk and eventually scored on a single by Brandon Crawford to set the stage for Gillaspie, whose pinch-homer was the fifth of his career.

"Just tried to put a good swing on it and swing at strikes," Gillaspie said. "That's the hardest to do coming off the bench."

Maurer had converted his previous 15 save opportunities.

Earlier, the Padres rallied from three four-run deficits with extra-base power, using three doubles, three triples and two home runs to take a 9-6 lead.

Myers' home run, a solo shot, off the Giants' fourth pitcher, right-hander Hunter Strickland, broke a 6-6 tie in the seventh inning.

The Padres then tacked on two runs in the eighth on back-to-back triples by Szczur and Pirela and a single by Asuaje, creating the three-run advantage the Giants erased in the ninth.

Two Padres other than Szczur came within one hit of a cycle in a 20-hit attack.

Sanchez flied out in the eighth inning and struck out in the 10th needing a triple for a cycle. His first three hits included a solo homer, his seventh of the season, in the fourth inning against Giants starter Jeff Samardzija.

Pirela, like Szczur, finished with two singles, a double and a triple, extending his hitting streak to nine games along the way.

Asuaje's four hits were all singles.

Gorkys Hernandez and Crawford had two singles apiece in an 11-hit attack for the Giants, who have lost 16 of 21 against the Padres since the 2016 All-Star break.

"That's why we are where we're at," Bochy lamented of his last-place team. "We can't put (pitching and hitting) together. That's what's hurt us. Tonight the bats were there, and the timely hitting was there, and (the pitchers) had a tough time."

Neither starting pitcher made it through five innings.

Despite getting staked to a four-run lead in the first, which became 5-1 in the third and 6-2 in the fourth, Samardzija gave way to the bullpen in the middle of a three-run Padres uprising in the fifth.

Pirela had an RBI single and Sanchez a run-scoring double, the latter ending Samardzija's night with the Giants clinging to a 6-4 lead.

Cory Spangenberg's run-scoring infield out against Josh Osich closed the gap to 6-5, before Cory Gearrin stranded the potential tying run at third base.

Samardzija allowed five runs and eight hits in his 4 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out three.

Padres starter Trevor Cahill didn't make it even as far as his rival. He was pulled with two outs in the fourth, having allowed six runs (five earned) and seven hits in 3 2/3 innings. He walked four and struck out one.

Pence's first hit, an RBI double, highlighted the Giants' four-run first.

NOTES: The Padres' 20 hits were a season-high. ... Padres C Hector Sanchez improved to 11-for-23 (.478) with five home runs and 13 RBIs against the Giants, one of his former teams. Sanchez's home run was his fourth against the Giants this season. ... Padres RHP Craig Stammen suffered a hamstring strain running the bases in the sixth inning and had to be removed from the game. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced before the game that LF/1B Michael Morse (concussion), who was injured in his club's brawl with the Washington Nationals in May, has returned to his home in Florida to ponder retirement. ... Padres CF Manuel Margot (paternity list) witnessed the birth of his son, Diamond, on Thursday. He is expected to rejoin the team this weekend.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
San Diego   San Francisco
Trevor Cahill Player Jeff Samardzija
No Decision W/L No Decision
3.2 IP 4.1
1 Strikeouts 3
7 Hits 8
12.27 ERA 10.38
Hitting
San Diego   San Francisco
Matt Szczur Player Hunter Pence
4 Hits 3
1 RBI 2
0 HR 0
7 TB 4
.800 Avg .750
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
San Diego 20 2 35 .400 30 8 12 6 0 2
San Francisco 11 1 16 .256 19 8 7 5 1 1
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