San Francisco Giants

The Giants scored seven runs in the first two innings and never looked back on Sunday. The Mother’s Day win was San Francisco’s third in a row and clinched a series victory over the Reds. Jeff Samardzija threw 6.2 innings and earned his first win of the season.

With Hunter Pence battling a left hamstring strain, Justin Ruggiano will continue to be relied upon in his absence. Ruggiano has five hits in his last three starts, and is in the lineup again for Sunday’s series finale against the Cincinnati Reds.

Moore pitched a stellar game. The lefty allowed only one run in 7.1 innings of work, striking out seven Reds in the process. Moore was the workhorse the Giants needed Saturday, throwing 120 pitches in the win.

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) Brandon Belt and Justin Ruggiano homered, Matt Moore pitched into the eighth inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 3-1 in a matchup of weary teams on Saturday.

With no outs in the top of the 8th inning Saturday in the San Francisco Giant’s game against the visiting Cincinnati Reds, Eugenio Suarez smashed a ball to Panik’s left. Panik snagged the grounder, spun, and put a throw on the money to Brandon Belt, who had just moved to first base from left field.

Saturday Brandon Belt opened the game up with a solo home run at the bottom of the 1st inning. Belt’s home run marked AT&T Park’s 72nd splash hit.

It was exactly 1 a.m. Saturday when Buster Posey’s moonshot home run crashed into the empty left field bleachers inside AT&T Park. And for the sake of the confidence of an otherwise shaky bullpen, Buster is glad it did. “It was just such a confidence boost for our bullpen,” the catcher remarked in the dugout after the game. “They did a great job with a potent offense. Johnny pitched great.”

Mike Krukow joined the Murph and Mac Show on Friday and argued that if Brandon Belt continues to be unable to put the ball in play, he should be dropped out of the two spot in the lineup.

The last time Ty Blach stepped on the mound, it was against the same Cincinnati Reds he faced Thursday night. He gave up 11 hits and 10 runs in just three innings, bumping his 2.55 ERA all the way up to 5.66. Thursday was a different story. The 26-year-old went seven innings, only allowing 2 runs on 5 hits. Even though the Giants lost the game, Blach’s manager was complimentary of the way young pitcher performed.

Denard Span collected four hits in five at-bats in his first game back from injury on Thursday night, but the Giants left him on base three times in a 3-2 loss to the Reds.