Pittsburgh Pirates Ke’Bryan Hayes is congratulated by third base coach Mike Rabelo on the way home after hitting a solo home run against the San Francisco Giants in the top of the tenth inning at Oracle Park in San Francisco on Sat Arp 27, 2024 (AP News photo)

Pittsburgh (14-14). 000 000 100 3. 4. 11. 1

San Francisco (13-15). 000 001 000 2. 3. 7. 2. 10 innings

Time: 2:46

Attendance: 34,841

Saturday, April 27, 2024

By Lewis Rubman

SAN FRANCISCO–After last night’s come from behind walk off win against the Pirates, there was a good chance that tonight’s matchup between the two 12-13 teams would be a resounding let down. It wasn’t. This game featured top notch pitching, comebacks by both teams, and an ultimately deflating 4-3 loss for the home team. That loss dropped the Giants to two games below the .500 plateau, which they haven’t occupied since March 31, when they stood at 2-2.

The Pirates started with Martín Pérez, a lefty with 11 years’ experience in the American League, where he went 84-81, 4.44 for the Rangers, Twins, and Red Sox. and now in his first season in the senior circuit. He brought a record of 1-1, 3.45 to this evening’s contest.

That one loss came against his old team from Boston, when, on April 21, he got tagged for four runs, all earned, on six hits over the short span of four innings. Saturday night, he threw six masterful innings, in which he allowed one run, which was unearned, on four hits and two walks He notched four strikeouts and threw 81 pitches, 56 for strikes. He had to settle for a no decision that shrunk his earned run average to 2.86.

The Giants also went with a veteran, although not one as grizzled as Pérez. Jordan Hicks has been in the bigs since 2018 except for the COVID season of 2020, which he sat out while recovering from Tommy John surgery. His first team was St. Louis, who traded him to Toronto last July.

He signed with the Giants as a free agent in January. Hicks has remade himself from a fire balling reliever who once touched 105 mph twice in a single appearance. The 27 year old native of Texas dialed himself down and added to his arsenal, improving his control and lessening the strain and allowing him to pitch more innings, although he still is capable of rearing back and letting ‘er rip.

He took the mound at 2-1, 1.61 and left after six plus frames after a performance that resembled the one Pérez turned in. No Pirates crossed the plate. Hicks gave up four hits and nary a walk and recorded nine strikeouts. 62 of his 88 deliveries were counted as strikes.

The last batter he faced before giving way to Luke Jackson was Connor Joe. who eventually scored an unearned run. Hicks went home with a no decision, leaving him at 2-0 but an ERA reduced to 1.69.

The starters achieved this in spite of a total of six errors, three for each team while they were on the mound. The Giants, who drew first blood in the sixth, did it with the unearned run off Pérez after Nick Ahmed reached first on an error by shortstop Aklika Williams and eventually scored on a double by Wilmer Flores.

The Buccaneers restored the tie in the top of the seventh. Joe advanced to second on Jack Suwinski’s grounder to short that was ruled a single. Joey Bart reached on a fielder’s choice that sent Joe to third, and he scored on Rowdy Tellez’s sacrifice fly to left.

Colin Holderman kept San Francisco off the board in the eighth, and Josh Fleming retired the side in order in the eighth and got the first out in the bottom of the ninth. He then turned the ball over to Hunter Stratton.

Luke Jackson and Tyler Rogers pitched a scoreless seventh and eighth, respectively, and Camilo Doval allowed a hit but no runs in the top of the ninth.

Taylor Rogers came in to pitch the top of the tenth and undid his predecessors’ fine work. He allowed back to back home runs into the left field bleachers, Reynolds’ 387 foot, two run blast, his fourth homer of the year, that scored zombie runner Williams before him, and a 377 foot shot by Ke’ Bryan Hayes. Pittsburgh now was up, 4-3.

But the Giants hadn’t walked the plank yet. With David Bednar on the hump for the visitors, Jorge Soler sent a towering drive 433 into the left center field bleachers. Courtesy runner Patrick Bailey scored in front of him, bringing the Giants within a run of a tie. But Bednar recovered and, although Estrada managed an infield hit to third, fanned pinch hitters LaMonte Wade, Jr. and Mike Yastrzemski.

The win went to Stratron (1-0, 3,07) and the loss, to Tyler Rogers (0-1, 4.32).

Sunday, Giants and Pirates will stumble out of bed blurry eyed and bushed and into the ballpark for a day game after a night game. The probable pitchers are Jared Jones (2-2, 2.79) for Pittsburgh and Keaton Winn (2-3, 3.54) for San Francisco.