SAN FRANCISCO — Mac Williamson hit David Price’s first pitch of the eighth inning for a tiebreaking home run, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 2-1 victory over the Boston Red Sox and a split of the two-game interleague series.
The Giants’ Brandon Belt and Red Sox’s Chris Young also hit solo homers to account for all the scoring in a pitchers’ duel between Price and San Francisco’s Madison Bumgarner before Williamson’s difference-making blast.
Bumgarner left the game after six innings of one-run ball, having thrown 101 pitches. He did not get a decision.
The win was the Giants’ 19th in 26 games since May 11, the most in baseball.
Right-hander Cory Gearrin (2-0), the third Giants pitcher, got the win after pitching a 1-2-3 top of the eighth.
Hunter Strickland threw one pitch in the last of the ninth, retiring pinch hitter Marco Hernandez on a ground ball to get out of a two-on, two-out jam and record his first save.
Williamson, San Francisco’s left fielder, dropped Hanley Ramirez’s inning-opening fly ball off Santiago Casilla for a two-base error that gave Boston life in the top of the ninth.
Casilla then struck out Jackie Bradley Jr., and left-hander Javier Lopez, after walking pinch hitter David Ortiz, fanned Travis Shaw, setting the stage for Strickland.
Williamson, making just his fourth start in an injury-depleted Giants outfield, struck out in his first two at-bats against Price, dropping his season average to .150 (3-for-20).
However, he got a hold of a Price curveball and lifted a towering shot that bounced off the top of an advertisement that forms the outfield barrier in the left-field corner, barely eluding a leaping Young.
Williamson, twice demoted to Triple-A earlier this season, had six homers in 36 games in the minors in April and May.
Price (7-3) went the distance, allowing the two runs on just three hits in eight innings. He walked two and struck out seven in his first complete game of the season.
Bumgarner, who allowed Young’s fourth-inning homer, limited the Red Sox to just four hits. He walked one and struck out five.
Matt Duffy had the only non-homer for the Giants, a second-inning single.
Young and Mookie Betts combined for four of the five hits for Boston, the majors’ leader in runs scored.
The loss was just the Red Sox’s fifth in 14 games against the Giants.
Young’s homer to left field came in the fourth inning and opened the scoring. It was his fifth of the season and the second of his career against Bumgarner in 22 at-bats.
Belt got the Giants even in the bottom of the frame, bombing a Price curveball into San Francisco Bay beyond the right field wall. It was Belt’s seventh homer of the season.
The “Splash Hit” was the 69th by a Giant in the 17-year history of the ballpark. It was the fifth of Belt’s career and the first for a Giant since Belt took San Diego’s Andrew Cashner into the water Sept. 25, 2014.
NOTES: Giants C Buster Posey (nerve irritation in right thumb) did not play, the first time he hasn’t received LHP Madison Bumgarner’s first pitch in his last 46 starts. … Before C Trevor Brown did it Wednesday night, the last Giant other than Posey to start a game pitched by Bumgarner was C Andrew Susac on Sept. 17, 2014. … Giants RF Hunter Pence (torn hamstring) left the team Wednesday to fly to Dallas, where he is scheduled to undergo surgery on Thursday. He is expected to be out at least two months. … With Posey and Pence out of the lineup, Giants 3B Matt Duffy batted cleanup for the first time in his major league career. … For the second night in a row, the Red Sox opted not to start DH/1B David Ortiz at first base in the National League ballpark. Ortiz, like six Red Sox starters, had never faced Bumgarner in his career. … Boston 2B Dustin Pedroia hit safely in his 15th consecutive game Wednesday, the longest run in the majors. A Red Sox player has held the majors’ longest active hitting streak every day since May 3.