Aug 15, 2016; San Francisco, CA, USA; Pittsburgh Pirates right fielder Gregory Polanco (25) is congratulated by Pittsburgh Pirates third base coach Rick Sofield (41) after hitting a two run home run against the San Francisco Giants during the sixth inning at AT&T Park. Photo Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports
Dave Del Grande, The Sports Xchange
SAN FRANCISCO — Gregory Polanco drove in four runs with a home run and a single, helping make right-hander Ryan Vogelsong’s return to AT&T Park a winning one Monday night in the Pittsburgh Pirates’ 8-5 victory over the San Francisco Giants.
Center fielder Andrew McCutchen saved two runs with a diving catch and the Pittsburgh outfield threw out two Giants baserunners, helping Vogelsong win on a night when he was roughed up for four runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings.
The win was the third in four games in California for the Pirates (60-56), who remained tied in the loss column with Miami (62-56) and St. Louis (62-56) in the race for the second National League wild-card playoff spot.
The Giants (66-52) saw their lead in the NL West over the Los Angeles Dodgers (65-52) trimmed to a half-game.
Vogelsong was facing the Giants for the first time since they chose not to re-sign him as a free agent at the end of the 2015 season. He won 48 games and two World Series championships in five seasons in San Francisco.
Polanco’s two-run single capped a three-run fourth inning, and his 17th homer increased the Pittsburgh lead to 5-2 in the sixth, giving Vogelsong (2-2) enough of a cushion to record his first-ever victory over the Giants, against whom he was starting for the first time since 2004.
Vogelsong gave up solo home runs to Eduardo Nunez, his 13th, and Denard Span, his sixth, in the sixth inning before leaving to his second standing ovation of the night with a 5-4 lead.
A pair of subsequent RBI singles by McCutchen and 3 1/3 innings of three-hit, one-run relief by four Pirates relievers secured Pittsburgh’s fourth consecutive win in San Francisco.
McCutchen’s catch helped the bullpen’s cause when he raced to his right and made a diving catch on a Nunez liner with two outs and runners on second and third in the seventh, with the Giants trailing 7-4.
Vogelsong faced 28 batters in his 5 2/3 innings, and 13 of them reached base. He stranded seven of the baserunners.
He walked three and struck out one.
Polanco, McCutchen and David Freese had two hits apiece for the Pirates, who spoiled the home debut of left-hander Matt Moore, who the Giants acquired at the trade deadline from Tampa Bay.
The win was Pittsburgh’s eighth straight against a lefty starter.
All eight Pirates position players had at least one hit in the 12-hit attack on five Giants pitchers.
Span and Brandon Belt had three hits each for the Giants, who have lost three of four to start a 10-game homestand.
The Giants are just 9-19 since the All-Star break, the worst record in the majors.
Nunez and Angel Pagan added two hits each and Panik had two RBIs for San Francisco, which also totaled 12 hits.
Moore (7-9), who lost for the second time in three starts for the Giants, gave up five runs and six hits in six innings. He walked three and struck out five.
The Giants scored single runs in the first and third innings, and Vogelsong had to consider himself lucky to be down just 2-0 at that point.
After getting a standing ovation when he took the mound for the bottom of the first, the veteran proceeded to give up two hits and two walks, with the run scoring when he issued a two-out, bases-loaded walk to Joe Panik.
Vogelsong got Nunez to ground to third to end the 24-pitch inning.
The Giants got a walk and a hit in the second inning, but another threat fizzled when Trevor Brown was thrown out at home plate by Polanco, the right fielder, while trying to score from second on Span’s single.
A double by Belt and single by Hunter Pence made it 2-0 in the third, but again the Pittsburgh outfield bailed out Vogelsong.
A strong throw toward the plate by center fielder McCutchen on a double by Nunez got Pence to change his mind about trying to score from first. Pence then was gunned down returning to third base on a relay throw from first baseman Freese.
The Giants also had their fair share of defensive gems in the early going, with Pence tripping over the bullpen mound but still managing to catch Josh Harrison’s foul fly ball to end the fourth inning, and Nunez twice throwing from third to first while on his back to deny McCutchen and Freese potential infield hits in the fifth.
NOTES: The game matched a team that has dominated National League Central competition (the Giants, 14-8 before Monday) against one that has owned the NL West (the Pirates, 19-11 before Monday). … Giants C Buster Posey (sore lower back) was not in the starting lineup for the second day in a row. … Among Pirates RHP Ryan Vogelsong’s accomplishments in five years with the Giants from 2011-15: two-time champion (2012, ’14) and National League All-Star (2011). … The Pirates won’t see the Giants’ top two pitchers, LHP Madison Bumgarner and RHP Johnny Cueto, in the series. The Giants have won two series (2-1 over Miami, 3-0 at Tampa Bay) and lost two series (1-2 at Colorado, 1-2 at Atlanta) in which neither pitched.
