San Francisco: Michael Morse hit an RBI single with one out in the ninth inning after Hunter Pence’s tying double, and the San Francisco Giants rallied to beat the New York Mets 5-4 on Saturday night to extend baseball’s best record.
Angel Pagan had three singles, two RBIs and reached base all five times against his former team. He reached leading off the ninth when catcher Anthony Recker dropped the third strike and his throw pulled Lucas Duda off first base. Mets manager Terry Collins challenged the play but lost.
Pence hit a tying double that scored Pagan and advanced to third on Buster Posey’s deep fly to left-centre. After Jenrry Mejia (1-2) intentionally walked Pablo Sandoval, Morse sent a single to deep right and was mobbed by teammates before he reached second.
It was Mejia’s first blown save in seven chances. Jeremy Affeldt (2-1) tossed one scoreless to help the Giants (41-21) win for the ninth time in 11 games. San Francisco’s rallied overshadowed a solid start from New York’s Bartolo Colon and a workmanlike effort from Tim Hudson.
Colon gave up three runs — one earned — and eight hits in 5 2-3 innings. The 41-year-old, who spent the past two seasons across the bay in Oakland, struck out four and walked two.
Hudson, who began the game with a majors-best 1.75 ERA, allowed season highs of nine hits and three walks in five innings. Hudson (1.97 ERA) is the first pitcher in San Francisco history with an ERA below 2.00 through his first 12 starts with the team.
The Giants have won all six of Hudson’s starts at AT&T Park. They also are 9-2 overall when he pitches, including a rain-suspended game May 22 at Colorado.
The Mets ended Hudson’s scoreless streak at 16 consecutive innings in the second, when Duda doubled and scored on Recker’s single. In the third, Duda broke his bat hitting an RBI single off the wall in right and Recker drove in another run to give the Mets a 3-0 lead.
The Mets might have had more if not for a baserunning blunder. Ruben Tejada was tagged out between second and third after Duda stopped at third and Recker ran to second before Colon struck out.
With the bases loaded and no outs in the fifth, Posey grounded into a double play to score San Francisco’s first run. Colon then got Pablo Sandoval to fly out.
New York extended its lead to 4-1 on a wild pitch by George Kontos in the sixth, but couldn’t overcome an error by third baseman David Wright in the bottom of the inning.
Wright fielded a grounder, then misfired to second trying to get the lead runner with two outs. Pagan followed with a two-run single to bring the Giants within 4-3 and chase Colon, and Pence’s single loaded the bases for Posey again. Jeurys Familia struck out Posey on a sinking fastball clocked at 96mph.
