If any Giants fans were concerned that the All-Star break might slow down rookie sensation Patrick Bailey, the catcher needed all but one game to remind fans how much he can impact the orange and black.
Bailey’s seventh inning single scored two and put the Giants on top for good in a 6-4 win over the Pirates on Friday in Pittsburgh.
With the Giants down one to start the seventh, Bailey got a chance to hit with runners in scoring position after Wilmer Flores doubled, J.D. Davis walked and both advanced on a passed ball. In a 2-1 count with one out, Bailey pulled Colin Holderman’s fastball to right field for a single, scoring Flores.
J.D. Davis initially slowed up at third, but when Pirates rookie Henry Davis — usually a catcher, but playing right field on Friday — bobbled the ball, Giants third base coach Mark Hallberg sent J.D. to the plate and got the go-ahead run home without a throw.
After a pitching change, Bailey would then steal second on the first pitch for his first big league stolen base and score from second on fellow rookie Luis Matos’ two-out single, providing a much needed insurance run.
Bailey then caught two clean innings from Tyler Rogers and a scoreless ninth from Camilo Doval, who picked up his MLB-leading 27th save.
In the first game of a four-city, 11-day, 11-game road trip, Giants starter Ross Stripling matched zeroes with Pirates lefty Rich Hill for four innings until the fifth, when Michael Conforto hit a two-run single to score Brandon Crawford and Austin Slater.
Pittsburgh answered back with two in the fifth on a Ji Man Choi leadoff homer and a Stripling balk, which sent the tying run in from third. Stripling finished the game allowing those two runs on five hits and no walks in 4.2 innings pitched, striking out six.
The Giants would take the lead again in the sixth when Matos singled, advanced to third on a Casey Schmitt double and scored on a Crawford groundout. But Pittsburgh would take the lead in the sixth on sacrifice flies from Choi and Tucupita Marcano.
Even though he allowed a run to score on the Marcano sac fly, Mauricio Llovera picked up his first win as a Giant and second win in the Majors in relief. A right-hander who was called up for the first time this season on July 6 before the All-Star break, Llovera had previously won one game in 2021 with the Phillies and has pitched a total of 26.2 innings in the big leagues over four years.
San Francisco is now 50-41 on the season and will carry a three-game winning streak into Saturday’s 4:05 p.m. game. All-Star right-hander Alex Cobb (6-2, 2.91 ERA) will take the mound for the Giants while the Pirates will counter with righty Johan Oviedo (3-10, 4.75 ERA).
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