Giants fall to Pirates 3-2 on Marte's walkoff homer
San Francisco Giants' Matt Duffy, right, slides safely into third base ahead of the tag of Pittsburgh Pirates' Josh Harrison in the fifth inning of a baseball game, Saturday, Aug. 22, 2015, in Pittsburgh. (AP Photo/Fred Vuich)
PITTSBURGH (AP) — Mike Leake spent six innings doing what he usually does against the Pittsburgh Pirates, then San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy decided enough was enough.
With the go-ahead run at third and one out in the top of the seventh of a tie game, Bochy pulled his starter for a pinch-hitter, even though Leake had given up all of one hit and needed just 77 pitches to get 18 outs.
"He was done," Bochy said. "It'd gone far enough. It had been a while since he last pitched."
The move failed to give the Giants the lead — Kelby Tomlinson lined out and Nori Aoki grounded out to end the threat. A little while later Saturday, San Francisco trudged off after Starling Marte's solo home run against George Kontos with two outs in the ninth gave the Pirates a 3-2 win.
"We did a lot of good things," Bochy said. "Ran the bases well, stole bases. It comes down to getting the timely hit, and that's the difference. We couldn't get it."
And the Pirates did. Jung Ho Kang hit a pair of homers for the Pirates and Marte atoned for an earlier baserunning gaffe when he sent a fastball from Kontos (0-2) into the sun-splashed seats in left field for the second walkoff hit of his career.
"I felt I was doing a good job of delivering my pitches, hitting my spots," Kontos said. "But one pitch I didn't executive as well I'd like and I think he was sitting on it and took advantage of it."
Ehire Adrianza had an RBI single for the Giants and Matt Duffy tied it in the eighth after scoring on a wild pitch but the Giants fell to 2-4 on a road trip through St. Louis and Pittsburgh. Three of the losses have come by one run.
Leake came in 8-3 in 23 career starts against Pittsburgh, including a 2-0 mark this year while playing for Cincinnati. He showed no ill effects of the left hamstring strain that sent him to the disabled list on Aug. 3. Bochy put the newly acquired right-hander through the paces in pregame anyway, having Leake cover first and run the bases just to make sure.
Leake's mobility was never a problem, perhaps because the Pirates rarely made him take a step off the mound. He faced the minimum through the first four innings before Kang sent a fastball into the seats in center to tie the game at 1.
It was the only bobble by Leake, who cruised through sixth before getting lifted. Leake admitted he probably could have gone a little longer but understood Bochy's decision.
"It was just kind of a feel," Leake said. "We kind of had a situation where you're trying to get the runner in from third base, and my arm wasn't used to pitching that long after taking a couple of weeks off."
The move didn't work out. The Pirates drew the infield in and Tomlinson hit a shot right to Pittsburgh second baseman Neil Walker. Aoki followed with a roller to first baseman Pedro Alvarez and Pittsburgh starter Gerrit Cole beat Aoki to the bag, giving a fist pump as he collected the throw to finish off his best start in early a month.
Cole surrendered one run on three hits in seven innings, walking three and striking out eight.
Hunter Strickland came on for Leake and appeared to get out of a jam when Marte was caught stealing at third. Kang hit the next pitch 424 feet into the bullpen to put the Pirates up 2-1.
Pittsburgh's normally reliable group of relievers, however, faltered. Duffy led off the eighth with a walk against Joakim Soria and eventually scored on a wild pitch to tie the game before Marte put an abrupt end to an afternoon that felt more like early October than late August.
TRAINER'S ROOM
Giants: The team is optimistic OF Angel Pagan is close to a return from right knee tendinitis that landed him on the disabled list on Aug. 10. He received a platelet-rich plasma injection in the knee, with promising results. ... Bochy said the team is hoping to get 2B Joe Panik back by the first week of September. Panik has been out since Aug. 3 with lower back inflammation. "We knew it would be a slow process," Bochy said. "There's no schedule. There have been no setbacks. This is the rehab we had planned for him to make sure we don't have a setback."
UP NEXT
The series wraps up on Sunday night when Ryan Vogelsong (9-8, 3.93 ERA) faces Pittsburgh's Francisco Liriano (8-6, 3.35). Vogelsong hasn't allowed more than three runs in any of his six starts since July 5. The Pirates have won each of Liriano's last nine starts.