PITTSBURGH — The San Francisco Giants overcame a six-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 11-10 in 13 innings on Monday night, running their winning streak to a season-high six games.
A throwing error by pitcher Jared Hughes on a sacrifice bunt by reliever Jean Machi enabled the winning run to score.
Hughes (1-1) came on to start the inning and, with one out, walked right fielder Hunter Pence and hit outfielder Juan Perez with a pitch. Machi (5-0), in just the second plate appearance of his four-year career, then dropped down a bunt, which Hughes fielded and threw wildly past first base as Pence scored from second base.
Giants backup catcher Hector Sanchez had four hits and three RBIs while Buster Posey, who got a day off from catching and played first base, had three hits, three runs scored and two RBIs. Pence finished with three hits and scored four times and center fielder Angel Pagan also had three of San Francisco’s 20 hits. Left fielder Michael Morse drove in two runs with a pair of doubles.
Machi pitched two scoreless innings and closer Sergio Romo worked the 13th for his 10th save.
Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen had four hits and third baseman Pedro Alvarez homered and drove in four runs.
The Giants tied the score at 10-10 and forced extra innings on Posey’s single in the ninth.
Both fill-in starter pitchers struggled as San Francisco’s Yusmeiro Petit was racked for eight runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings and Pittsburgh’s Jeff Locke, an All-Star last season, surrendered six runs and eight hits in 5 1/3 innings after being recalled from Triple-A Indianapolis earlier in the day.
Petit started in place of right-hander Matt Cain, who was placed on the disabled list Sunday with a cut on his right index finger. The Pirates needed a spot starter after their rotation was scrambled last week by back-to-back rainouts in Baltimore last week, so they called on Locke who went 1-5 with a 6.66 ERA in his last 11 starts of 2013.
Pinch-hitter Jose Tabata put the Pirates ahead 10-9 with an RBI infield single in the seventh inning after they had squandered an 8-2 lead.
The Pirates went ahead by six runs after scoring four times in the fifth inning but San Francisco went 9-8 with five runs in the sixth and two in the seventh.
Second baseman Brandon Hicks’ two-run double highlighted the sixth inning that also included RBI singles by Posey and Sanchez and shortstop Brandon Crawford’s sacrifice fly and drew the Giants within 8-7.
Pittsburgh shortstop Jordy Mercer doubled and scored on second baseman Neil Walker’s groundout in the bottom of the sixth inning to give the Pirates a two-run cushion but San Francisco tied it in the seventh when Morse doubled in a run and scored on a single by Posey.
Alvarez’s booming three-run home run to the bullpen in center field — the eighth homer of the season for the third baseman — capped a four-run third inning that put the Pirates ahead 4-2.
Josh Harrison, a utility player starting in right field for a third consecutive day, began the rally with a one-out single and a stolen base. He scored on a single by Walker then McCutchen also singled before Alvarez delivered his blast.
Alvarez drove in another run in the fifth with a broken-bat flare single to center field that scored McCutchen, who had doubled.
That began another four-run inning that put the Pirates ahead 8-2. Two runs scored on wild pitches after right-hander Jake Dunning relieved Petit with the bases load. The last run of the inning came home on a sacrifice fly by shortstop Clint Barmes that wound up being a double play when catcher Tony Sanchez was tagged out in a rundown between second and third.
The Giants scored twice in the first inning as Morse hit an RBI double and scored on catcher Angel Sanchez’s single.
NOTES: Giants RHP Matt Cain is confident he will make his next scheduled start Saturday against the Dodgers at Los Angeles. He was originally supposed to pitch Monday but was placed on the disabled list, retroactive to April 24, with a cut on his right index finger. … San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt, who entered the game in a 2-for-29 slump, got the night off. … Pirates SS Jordy Mercer, his batting average down to .156, did not start. … Pittsburgh RHP Jason Grilli played catch for the second time in three days, but there is no timetable for when the closer, who is on the DL with a strained left oblique, will be able to throw off a mound. … The Pirates optioned RHP Casey Sadler to Triple-A Indianapolis to open a roster spot for LHP Jeff Locke, who was recalled from the same club to start Monday night.