By Jeremy Harness

USA Today photo: San Francisco Giants Joe Panik scores in the fourth inning and receives congratulations in the dugout in Pittsburgh’s PNC Park on Thursday

The Giants used a four-run third inning on Thursday to make their way past the Pittsburgh Pirates, 5-3, at PNC Park.

In doing so, the Giants won for the 12^th time in 14 games and are tied with the most wins in the majors with the Chicago Cubs and the Texas Rangers with 47 victories. In addition, the Giants played Thursday without right fielder Hunter Pence as well as third baseman Matt Duffy in the lineup.

The team was also missing Brandon Belt, Gregor Blanco, Brandon Crawford and Angel Pagan. However, that did not prove to be much of a problem at all.

The Pirates did take a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but two innings later, the Giants exploded for four runs, much of it courtesy of Joe Panik’s three-run triple off Pittsburgh starter Jonathon Niese.

Pittsburgh had an answer in the bottom half of that inning, as the Pirates scored a pair of runs to cut the Giants’ lead to a single run, following Gregory Polanco’s run-scoring sac fly.

Mac Williamson, who assumed Pence’s regular position in right field on Thursday, made sure that the Giants would not relinquish this lead. In the top of the sixth, he launched a 446-foot home run that easily cleared the wall in left-center to give the Giants a two-run cushion.

Williamson had three hits and drove in a pair of runs, while Ramiro Pena, who played shortstop in place of Crawford, added a pair of hits.

While unspectacular, starter Albert Suarez (2-1, 3.69 ERA) was steady and did just enough to get the victory. He threw five innings and surrendered three runs on four hits, walking two and striking out six.