DENVER — Their offense was again marginal Tuesday night, but the San Francisco Giants scored an unearned run in the ninth to beat the Colorado Rockies 3-2.
Buster Posey led off that inning and reached second base when shortstop Daniel Descalso fielded his routine grounder and threw the ball over first baseman Gerardo Parra. Hunter Pence put runners on the corners with an infield single off Adam Ottavino (0-2), hitting a slow chopper to Descalso and just beating his throw.
Boone Logan came on and struck out Brandon Crawford. But Kelby Tomlinson lined Logan’s 0-2 fastball to left for single, scoring Posey.
Descalso booted Gorky Hernandez’s grounder but retrieved the ball and forced Pence at third. Logan’s wild pitch put two runners in scoring position before he struck out Trevor Brown.
The Giants used three pitchers in the eighth, the last being Javier Lopez (1-2) before Santiago Casilla worked the ninth, ending the game by getting Gerardo Parra to ground into a double play to earn his 31st save.
When Hernandez led off the eighth with a single, it was a modest achievement for the Giants. They had been held to four or fewer hits in five straight games, tying a major league record in the modern era that began in 1900.
Trevor Brown followed with a single. Third baseman Nolan Arenado made a dive to his left to snare Brown’s hard smash, but Arenado, throwing from his knees, pulled second baseman DJ LeMahieu off the base.
After pinch hitter Ehire Adrianza sacrificed the runners, starter Tyler Anderson gave way to Jordan Lyles after pitching a career-high 7 1/3 innings with two walks and a season-low-tying two strikeouts.
Eduardo Nunez brought Hernandez home, tying the game at 2, with a grounder to shortstop before Angel Pagan grounded to first.
It wasn’t until the seventh that Anderson notched his first strikeout. It came when Pence unsuccessfully tried to check his swing after Posey led off with a single.
Crawford sent center fielder Raimel Tapia onto the warning track to catch his straightaway drive. Anderson’s wild pitch moved Posey to second and gave the Giants their first at-bat with a runner in scoring position and a futile one when Kelby Tomlinson struck out.
Giants starter Jeff Samardzija held the Rockies to two runs and four hits in seven innings with one walk and a season-high-tying nine strikeouts. In his past six starts, Samardzija is 2-1 with a 1.96 ERA (36 2/3 innings, nine earned runs).
Tapia scored in the second inning to give Colorado a 2-1 lead. Tony Wolters led off with a double and was sacrificed to third by Anderson. Tapia brought Wolters home with a sacrifice fly.
Nunez hit his third homer with two outs in the third, connecting on Anderson’s 1-2 changeup to give the Giants a short-lived 1-0 lead.
In the bottom of the inning, Tapia walked with two outs and stole second. He scored on LeMahieu’s infield single. Shortstop Brandon Crawford made a sprawling stop going to his left but was unable to hold the ball while readying himself to throw, and Tapia dashed home.
NOTES: Rockies 2B DJ LeMahieu extended his career-high on-base streak to 23 games. … Colorado RHP Eddie Butler, RHP German Marquez and C Dustin Garneau were recalled from Triple-A Albuquerque. …Rockies INF Pat Valaika and 1B/OF Jordan Patterson had their contracts selected from Albuquerque. To make room for them on the 40-man roster, 1B Ben Paulsen and INF Rafael Ynoa were designated for assignment. …Rockies CF Charlie Blackmon was not in the lineup for the fourth straight day due to lower back tightness. … Giants RHP Jake Peavy (lower back strain) will be activated Wednesday. … San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt, hitless in his past 18 at-bats before Tuesday, and CF Denard Span, hitless in his past 20 at-bats before Tuesday, were not in the starting lineup. … Giants 1B Buster Posey returned to the lineup after not playing Monday. He caught three of the four games at Wrigley Field through Sunday was 1-for-18 entering play Tuesday.