The Giants were stuck on three hits. They’d put up seven straight zeroes, including one in the eighth against Pittsburgh super closer David Bednar.
The Pirates planned on getting six outs from Bednar and avoiding a sweep. But Thairo Estrada clubbed a Bednar fastball into the left field corner for a game-tying home run. The Giants’ comeback, however, was short-lived.
Jack Suwinski, who had already homered twice in the game, dug in to leadoff the ninth inning against Tyler Rogers. With Camilo Doval having worked seven of the previous 10 games, it was Rogers’ turn to close. Rogers’ opportunity lasted just moments, as Suwinski smacked his third homer into the right field bleachers.
In a game with Luis González, Suwinski was undoubtedly the best rookie on the field. Suwinski’s three homer day, including his walkoff off Rogers, lifted the Pirates to a sweep-avoiding 4-3 win over San Francisco (37-28).
Like they did in the first two games of the series, the Giants scored first. An error, two walks and a single that snuck through the left side of the infield plated Luis González and Mike Yastrzemski in the first inning.
Alex Cobb, in his first start back from the injured list, boasted a mid-90s fastball in line with where it was before his neck strain. But his sinker-splitter combination didn’t have quite the swing-and-miss action it normally does, and both Hoy Park and Jack Suwinski launched solo home runs off two-seamers up in the zone.
Cobb’s pitches as the knees were more effective than those at the letters. But he still executed enough to get through four innings — and his expected pitch limit of 60 — without surrendering any crooked numbers.
Still, it was Cobb’s first multi-homer game of the season. Since the start of 2021, he’d allowed an elite 0.5 home runs per nine innings.
As the two home runs Cobb allowed tied the game at 2-2, Pirates starter Mitch Keller retired eight straight Giants. Keller shut down the Giants for six innings — matching his season-high — after the bumpy start.
Then Suwinski clobbered his second home run of the game, this one off Sam Long, to give Pittsburgh a 3-2 lead. Long hadn’t allowed an earned run in his previous 13 innings pitched prior to that solo shot.
San Francisco put two runners on with no outs in the seventh inning, but head-scratching baserunning from Brandon Crawford prevented a rally. Instead of sliding into second on a double play ball up the middle, Crawford rammed into Park on the bag, pulling Darin Ruf back to second and eliminating Evan Longoria automatically.
With a 3-2 lead, the Pirates called on Bednar to take them home. The righty entered with a 1.14 ERA and two home runs allowed in 31.2 innings. He’s been as effective as any late-inning reliever in the National League.
Apart from a hit-by-pitch, Bednar worked an easy eighth. San Francisco’s three hits would have been tied for their second-fewest on the season.
But then Estrada led off the ninth by taking a Bednar fastball at the knees down the left field line. It was SF’s 11th straight home run that came with no runners on base.
Pittsburgh was capable of solo shots of their own, though. All four of the Pirates’ runs came from solo shots, including Suwinski’s third that sent the Giants packing to Atlanta with a sour Father’s Day memory.
