PITTSBURGH — The Giants knew they’d be tested straight out of the gate as they embarked on an 11-game, four-city road trip to start the second half.
They’ve risen to the challenge so far, completing a three-game sweep of the Pirates with an 8-4 win in 10 innings in Sunday afternoon’s series finale at PNC Park. The Giants have now won five in a row and six of their last seven games, improving to 52-41 on the season.
San Francisco took a 3-2 lead into the eighth inning, but the Pirates came alive late and rallied to tie the game against submariner Tyler Rogers. Andrew McCutchen led off with a single, and Rogers issued back-to-back walks to Carlos Santana and Henry Davis to load the bases with no outs for Jason Triolo, who lifted a game-tying sacrifice fly to right field.
Giants manager Gabe Kapler subsequently brought in Rogers’ twin brother Taylor, who managed to limit the damage by striking out Tucupita Marcano and Jason Delay on sweepers to end the inning.
The Giants’ offense went on to score five runs in the top of the 10th, with Michael Conforto and Patrick Bailey each delivering two-run doubles off Pirates reliever Yerry De Los Santos to help San Francisco finish off its first three-game sweep at Pittsburgh since 2017.
With the first leg of their longest road trip of the season in the books, the Giants will now head to Cincinnati, where they’ll kick off a four-game series at Great American Ball Park on Monday night. Logan Webb, who ended the first half with a Major League-high 126 innings, will start the series opener and will be followed by Anthony DeSclafani, Ross Stripling and Alex Cobb.
