SAN FRANCISCO — For a team that seemingly had control of the game for the better part of nine innings Tuesday night, the Arizona Diamondbacks sure needed a lot of things to break their way in extra innings to square their three-game series against the San Francisco Giants.
But that they did, with a game-saving throw by Cody Ross and some shoddy Giants defense combining to spell the difference in Arizona’s 6-4, 11-inning victory at AT&T Park.
Didi Gregorius scored on a wild pitch with one out in the 11th, and Gerardo Parra hit Santiago Casilla’s next offering into left-center field for a run-scoring double as the Diamondbacks, who blew a 4-0 lead in the eighth and ninth innings, recovered in time to snap the Giants’ seven-game home winning streak.
In a game that featured stellar pitching by Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin, more Giants killing by Paul Goldschmidt, a big-time hit off the bench by San Francisco’s Brandon Belt and a picture-perfect throw to the plate by Ross, it was a comedy of errors by the Giants in the top of the 11th that allowed Arizona reliever Brad Ziegler (1-0) to walk away a winner in a game he nearly gave away an inning earlier.
After Ross threw out Pablo Sandoval at home plate by 20 feet on Hunter Pence’s two-out bid for a walk-off single in the 10th, Gregorius sliced a one-out drive to left-center field that Andres Torres lost in the lights. Torres then hesitated throwing the ball back into the infield, allowing Gregorius to leg the hit into a double.
Casilla (2-2) then got pinch hitter Alfredo Marte to ground to Sandoval at third base, but first baseman Belt, whose pinch-hit, two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth forced extra innings, couldn’t handle a relatively simple, one-hop throw. The error allowed Gregorius to advance to third.
Casilla then uncorked a low fastball that skidded off home plate and through the legs of catcher Buster Posey for a wild pitch. Gregorius race home to break the 4-4 tie.
The run was the first allowed by the Giants bullpen after 15 1/3 scoreless innings.
Parra then plated Marte from second with a shot to left-center, giving Arizona a two-run cushion.
“We’ve had a lot of games like this, and we’ve won a lot of them,” Goldschmidt said of a Diamondbacks season in which 14 of the 20 games have been decided by two or fewer runs. “Whether we’re fighting back from a deficit or trying to hold onto a lead, we’re confident we can win it.”
Matt Reynolds, with the help of a double-play grounder, pitched a 1-2-3 bottom of the 11th for his first career save.
For the second consecutive game, the Diamondbacks blew a late two-run lead, this time when they were three outs away from sending Corbin to a third consecutive victory to open the season.
After the Giants used a Brandon Crawford triple as the centerpiece of a two-run eighth inning that knocked Corbin from the game and cut a 4-0 deficit in half, it took just two batters in the ninth to get completely even against Arizona closer J.J. Putz.
Pence greeted the right-hander with a solid double, bringing Belt to the plate as a pinch hitter for Joaquin Arias. The Giants’ regular first baseman, still batting just .197 despite a walk-off single in the ninth Monday, connected with a two-strike Putz fastball and sent it over the pavilion beyond the right field wall, one-hopping into San Francisco Bay.
“I knew I hit it well,” Belt said of his first home run of the season and first career pinch-hit homer, “but I don’t think anything is a sure thing here. I’ve learned my lesson.
“I was just happy to see it go out.”
For 7 1/2 innings, it appeared the Diamondbacks were en route to a relatively comfortable win. Goldschmidt and Corbin were the key contributors, Goldschmidt with a double, home run and three RBIs while Corbin was carrying a shutout into the eighth inning.
The Diamondbacks gave Corbin an immediate cushion with a two-run first inning that included a run-scoring double by Goldschmidt, then doubled their advantage when the Arizona first baseman took Giants starter Matt Cain about 15 rows deep in the left field bleachers with a two-run shot in the third.
The home run not only was Goldschmidt’s seventh against the Giants — his most against any foe — but also was the fifth of his career in just 57 at-bats at AT&T Park. Including his run-scoring double, he had amassed 17 RBIs and a .368 batting average over that span.
“I have no idea,” Goldschmidt responded when asked to explain his unusual success against the Giants. “These things can change in a hurry, so you try not to think too much about it.”
Even while suffering their first loss on a homestand that’s now five games old, the Giants kept their fans up late, scoring twice in the eighth and putting the potential tying runs on base after Corbin surrendered a sharp single to the last batter he faced, Angel Pagan.
But David Hernandez, who offered up a game-tying home run to Posey on Monday night, came on with one out and won a rematch with the reigning National League Most Valuable Player, getting him to fist a weak popup to second base.
Putz couldn’t finish the job in the ninth, however, sending the game into extra innings.
NOTES: Goldschmidt entered the game with the fifth-best slugging percentage (.587) and sixth-best on-base percentage (.416) among Giants opponents with at least 75 career plate appearances against the team. … The Diamondbacks are now 4-0 in Corbin’s starts, while the Giants fell to 0-5 with Cain on the hill. Cain has now allowed six home runs in his past 17 innings. … The Giants made a season-worst three errors, two of which led to unearned runs. … Arizona’s Ian Kennedy squares off with San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner in the series finale Wednesday afternoon, after which the Diamondbacks head home for seven in a row and the Giants take off on a six-game trip that wraps up next week in Phoenix. … The Diamondbacks have won the series finale against all six previous opponents this season. … A six-foot marker placed by the Giants on the brick wall beyond the fence in right-center field at AT&T Park commemorating Barry Bonds’ record-breaking 756th career home run has gone missing. The club announced it is studying surveillance tapes from the past week in an effort to figure out what happened.