PITTSBURGH—One night after blowing a four-run, ninth-inning lead and losing in the 10th, the San Francisco Giants rallied from a five-run deficit to beat the Pittsburgh Pirates 9–5 in 10 innings on Wednesday.
Patrick Bailey hit the first of three RBI singles in a four-run 10th inning for the Giants. Bailey started with a single to right off Carmen Mlodzinski (0–1), scoring automatic runner Thairo Estrada, before Jorge Soler followed with one up the middle to bring in Matt Chapman. A sacrifice fly from Brett Wisely plated Bailey ahead of another RBI single from Luis Matos.
Ryan Walker (4–2) struck out one in a perfect ninth for San Francisco, and Camilo Doval, who had suffered his first blown save of the season the night before, closed it out in the 10th.
“This was a really big game for us,” Giants Manager Bob Melvin said. “If we come back and don’t win that game, it’s almost like losing another really, really, really tough game.”
Chapman hit a two-run home run, his second in as many nights, off Pittsburgh rookie Jared Jones in the sixth to follow an RBI single from Soler an inning before, cutting what had been a 5–0 deficit to 5–3.
Aroldis Chapman walked the first three Giants batters in the eighth before being pulled for Colin Holderman. After Bailey struck out, LaMonte Wade Jr. scored from third on Soler’s fielder’s choice just in front of the plate. Heliot Ramos went down swinging to end the threat.
“Just didn’t command the ball, very simply,” Pirates Manager Derek Shelton said of Aroldis Chapman. “He threw the first two strikes to LaMonte, then after that, just lost control of the zone.”
Holderman gave up a two-out single in the ninth to Matos, who went to second on an error by Bryan Reynolds in left field. Wade tied it 5–5 with an RBI single to right.
“Last night was a tough one,” said Wade, who was 3-for-3 with three walks. “But you have to flush it and come back today. Down five and to come back like that, it’s a great win. Can build momentum off of that.”
Reynolds, a one-time San Francisco farmhand, gave the Pirates the 5–0 cushion on his second grand slam in the majors with one out in the fourth. He sent a hanging 3–2 knuckle curve from reliever Sean Hjelle 386 feet to right field, just after starter Blake Snell had hit Andrew McCutchen with the bases loaded.
Snell, the 2023 National Leauge Cy Young Award winner, came off the 15-day injured list to throw 87 pitches, 45 of them strikes. He allowed four runs on four hits, with five strikeouts and four walks, in 3 1/3 innings. He had been out since April 19 because of a left adductor strain.
“I feel way better,” said Snell, who was not effective at all in his first three starts after signing a free-agent deal late in spring training. “Results-wise, fans, people, they‘ll be upset. Battling some things, so we’ll get those figured out and get going. But I feel good, so results will start coming.”
Jones went six innings, giving up three runs on six hits, with five strikeouts.
