By Jeremy Kahn

AP photo: San Francisco Giants Buster Posey gets the warm greetings from third base coach Bill Hayes 58 after getting the game winning hit in the tenth inning Saturday at AT&T Park

SAN FRANCISCO-Buster Posey came up with the biggest hit of the game when the San Francisco Giants needed it the most.

Posey hit a opposite field single that scored Joe Panik from second base, as the Giants came back to defeat the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-4 in 10 innings before a crowd of 41,358, the 439th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&T Park.

The walk-off single by Posey was the fourth of his career, and third walk-off hit, with his last one coming against the Toronto Blue Jays on May 11. This was the Giants sixth walk-off of the season, the most in the major leagues.

Jarrett Parker led off the bottom of the 10th inning by popping out to third base against Dodgers closer Kenley Jansen, but then Denard Span doubled to right field and then scored on a Joe Panik single to left field. Brandon Belt then what looked like the second out of the inning to Trayce Thompson in right field, but he was unable to catch the ball and his throw to second base just missed getting the suddenly sliding Panik. Posey then the second pitch he saw from Jansen into left-center field to send the Giants dugout streaming out of the dugout with enthusiasm.

The win by the Giants extended their lead over the second place Dodgers up to four games, but there were some scary moments in this game, especially when the Dodgers took the lead in the top of the 10th inning.

Chris Stratton, who was the last reliever for Bruce Bochy gave up a leadoff opposite field home run to Adrian Gonzalez on a 0-1 pitch. Thompson then singled, but then Stratton was able to settle down to get Joc Pederson to line out to Parker, Yasmani Grandal struck out for the second out and then Stratton ended the inning, as Howie Kendrick flew out to Gregor Blanco in right field.

This was Stratton’s first appearance in a game since June 2, when he pitched one inning against the Atlanta Braves at Turner Field. With the victory, Stratton picked up his first career victory.

As for Jansen, this was just his third blown save of the 2016 season, as he fell to 2-2 on the season.

Giants starting pitcher Jeff Samardzjia lasted 4.2 innings, his shortest outing of the season. Samardzjia allowed two runs on seven hits, while walking two and striking out three.

Once again, Samardzjia was unable to make it out of the fifth inning, marking the third consecutive start that he was unable to get thru the fifth. In six of his first 10 starts, Samardzjia went at least 7. 2 innings.

Dodgers starter Scott Kazmir remains winless against the Giants this season, as he went five innings, allowing three runs on five hits, while walking five and striking out three. On the season, Kazmir is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA, while in his other 10 starts, Kazmir is 5-2 with a 3.56 ERA.

The Giants got to Kazmir early, as they scored two runs off of him in the first inning, as Belt and Posey each walked and then Matt Duffy singled in Belt with the Giants first run of the afternoon. Brandon Crawford then singled in Posey following the Belt single.

That would be the score for all of one-half inning, as Thompson singled, then made a heads play, as he advanced an 90 feet on a Pederson fly out to Mac Williamson in left field and then scored on a Grandal single.

Gonzalez drove in the first of his two runs on the afternoon in the top of the fifth inning, as he doubled in Justin Turner, who singled just prior to Gonzalez double.

After Panik singled and Belt walked to leadoff the sixth inning, Kazmir was replaced by Louis Coleman, who got Posey to ground into a force play and then Duffy did the same thing; however Panik was able to score the go-ahead run from third base.

This is where the game got really strange, as the Giants made five pitching changes that included Derek Law, Josh Osich, Hunter Strickland, Javier Lopez and finally Cory Gearrin.

Despite all those changes, the Dodgers were unable to get anything across until Thompson walked with the bases loaded off of Gearrin to tie up the game that scored Chase Utley. In total, it took nearly 30 minutes to complete that half-inning that included those five pitching changes, saw the Dodgers score one run on just one hit and left the bases loaded.

Editors Note: The final score from Friday’s game was left out of the story, and the final was Dodgers 3 Giants 2.