By Jeremy Kahn

AP photo: Ehire Adrianza of the San Francisco Giants gets an RBI single in the seventh off New York Mets pitcher Jerry Blevins at AT&T Park in San Francisco on Friday night

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

Adrianza came up with an opposite field single off of Jerry Blevins in the bottom of the seventh inning, helping the Giants to a 8-1 victory over the New York Mets before a crowd of 41,434, the 469th consecutive regular season sellout at AT&T Park.

With the victory by the Giants, coupled with the Cincinnati Reds victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers by the final score of 9-2 at Great American Ballpark in Cincinnati, the Giants return to first place by a half-game.

Following the Adrianza single, Denard Span came up his third hit of four hits in the game, as he drove in Eduardo Nunez, who was intentionally walked in front of Adrianza, who was pinch-hitting for Gregor Blanco, who was batting for Johnny Cueto; however Blanco was replaced by Adrianza when Blevins replaced Mets starting pitcher Seth Lugo.

The Adrianza single gave Cueto his 14th win of the season, as he went seven innings, allowing just one run on eight hits, not walking a batter and striking out two.

Lugo went 6.2 innings, allowing three runs on seven hits, walking one and striking out three, as he saw his record fall to 0-2 on the season.

Hunter Strickland got into a jam in the top of the eighth inning, as after he retired Alejandro De Aza, Jose Reyes singled and then went to second when Brandon Belt’s throw on a Kelly Johnson hit ball hit Reyes in the back and that was all for Strickland.

Javier Lopez came on to replace Strickland and got Jay Bruce to ground into a inning-ending double play that Belt started, threw to Brandon Crawford and the inning ended, when Lopez was standing on first for the final out of the inning.

The Giants added three runs in the bottom of the eighth inning, as Eduardo Nunez grounded it onto a force play that scored Buster Posey.

Joe Panik then drove in two runs of the game, as he reached on a throwing error by a Asdrubial Cabrera that scored Brandon Crawford and Nunez.

Conor Gillaspie hit a pinch-hit two-run two-run home run to cap the five-run inning for the Giants, who have scored 18 runs in the first two games of the series against the reigning National League Champions.

This was the fifth home home run of the season for Gillaspie, and it was his second pinch-hit home run of the season, with his last coming on July 17 against the San Diego Padres at Petco Park. It was also the fifth pinch-hit home run of Gillaspie’s career.

Curtis Granderson gave the Mets a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning, as he hit his 20th home run of the season. Granderson’s home run was a Splash Hit, as it landed into McCovey Cove. It was the second time that Granderson hit a Splash Hit home run, and it was the 40th by an opposing player since AT&T Park on April 11, 2000.

The Giants tied up the game in the bottom of the third inning, as Joe Panik led off the inning with a single, advanced to second on a Cueto sacrifice bunt and then scored on a Span single.

This was the second four-hit game of the season for Span, whose came on May 14 against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Pagan extended his hitting streak up to 17 games, the active streak in the major leagues and the longest by a Giants player this season

In the top of the fifth inning, the Mets blew the perfect opportunity to take the lead, as after Seth Lugo bunted into a Fielders’ Choice that got Rene Rivera at second base for the second out of the inning.

Jose Reyes then singled and then Kelly Johnson singled, but Lugo stopped at third and Johnson continued onto third. The Giants caught both Lugo and Johnson in a rundown, and eventually Lugo was tagged out at home plate for the third out of the inning.

Hunter Pence got in on the base running miscue action in the bottom of the fifth inning, as after he doubled to leadoff the inning; however he was caught off base when Nunez flew out to Granderson in centerfield and he threw to Cabrera to complete the double play.

Once again in the bottom of the sixth inning, Giants were unable to score with runners in scoring position. Span and Angel Pagan each reached on singles, but then Belt hit into a double play and then Posey flew to Jay Bruce in right field to end the inning.

Despite the fact that they were unable to score runs, the Giants came up huge on the defensive side of the ball in the top of the seventh inning. Pence made up for his base running mishap, as he made a diving catch of a Cabrera hit ball and then Nunez ended the inning by snaring a Rivera ball, getting up and throwing him out at first base.