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Major League Baseball
San Francisco 13, Pittsburgh 5
When: 7:05 PM ET, Friday, June 30, 2017
Where: PNC Park, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Temperature: 81°
Umpires: Home - Brian Gorman, 1B - Dan Bellino, 2B - Nic Lentz, 3B - Dan Iassogna
Attendance: 26407

PITTSBURGH -- The San Francisco Giants seemed to be in trouble after the first inning.

Then Hunter Pence struck.

Pence's five RBIs powered the Giants to a 13-5 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Friday night at PNC Park.

The Giants (31-51) scored 10 consecutive runs to come back from a 3-1 deficit and stretch their winning streak to four games. Pence had three singles and a hit by pitch to drive in five runs within five innings.

"(Pence) got a much-needed rest after that 14-inning game (against the Colorado Rockies on Tuesday), a couple days off," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "I think he really benefited from that."

San Francisco scored three runs in the fourth inning and five in the sixth. It scored at least one run in seven innings.

"This is a small sample here, but it shows you what happens when you get timely hits," Bochy said. "You have a much better chance of winning the ballgame. We're getting a ton of them right now. It's getting contagious."

The Pirates (37-43) left 10 men on base.

Giants right-hander Johnny Cueto (6-7) allowed three runs and seven hits in seven innings but got the better of Pirates right-hander Gerrit Cole.

"It was just very difficult to get on my groove, but I'm very thankful for my teammates to pick me up and score runs for me to get a win today" Cueto said, "It was a bad day for me, but I was out there fighting."

Cole (6-7) failed to extend his winning streak to four games, allowing seven runs and 10 hits in 5 1/3 innings. His night began to unravel in the fourth inning before the Giants ballooned their lead to 10-3 in the sixth and 11-3 on a Pence single in the seventh.

"Well, the ball was more elevated tonight like it had been," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "We didn't get to talk about how he was dominating the bottom of the zone. You saw some of it tonight, but not with the consistency we were seeing it in the past."

Trailing 3-1 after the first inning, the Giants scored one run on a Pence single in the third and three in the fourth to take a 5-3 lead.

After Cole forced Brandon Crawford to fly out and Jae-Gyun Hwang to strike out to begin the fourth, he allowed three straight singles to load the bases. Joe Panik singled to right to tie it at 3 before Pence hit San Francisco's fifth straight single to add two runs.

San Francisco had a promising start before its explosive fourth. Denard Span led off the first inning by driving an 0-1 pitch into the stands beyond right field.

That lead didn't last long, though.

Josh Bell grounded into a fielder's choice, which scored Adam Frazier from third in the bottom of the first. John Jaso followed with a double off the right-field wall, driving in Josh Harrison, before Bell scored on a sacrifice fly from Gregory Polanco to make it 3-1.

Pirates center fielder Andrew McCutchen went 2-for-2 with one walk and one hit by pitch to push his batting average to .283. He was hitting .200 through May 23.

"See where I started from and see where I'm at now," he said. "It was a good month, but I'm not focused on my months. I'm focused on my days. So I'm going to continue to keep focusing day by day like I have been doing and keep pushing forward."

NOTES: The Pirates went with the same lineup they used to beat the Tampa Bay Rays 4-0 on Thursday. The lone change was RHP Gerrit Cole starting and batting ninth. ... Pirates INF David Freese did not start for a second consecutive game. He is hitting .249 with 25 RBIs in 59 games this season. ... Giants C Buster Posey, who hit cleanup, returned after sitting behind C Nick Hundley on Wednesday. RF Hunter Pence was also reinserted into the lineup and hit in front of Posey. ... Denard Span started in center field and batted leadoff for San Francisco. OF Gorkys Hernandez started in his place Wednesday.
Top Game Performances
Starting Pitchers
San Francisco   Pittsburgh
Johnny Cueto Player Gerrit Cole
Win W/L Loss
5.0 IP 5.1
3 Strikeouts 7
7 Hits 10
5.40 ERA 11.81
Hitting
San Francisco   Pittsburgh
Denard Span Player Andrew McCutchen
4 Hits 2
1 RBI 0
1 HR 0
7 TB 2
.800 Avg 1.000
Team Stats Summary
 
Team Hits HR TB Avg LOB K RBI BB SB Errors
San Francisco 18 2 26 .419 21 7 13 5 1 0
Pittsburgh 10 0 13 .294 24 6 5 5 0 1