SAN FRANCISCO — Lance Lynn struck out the side in the eighth, and at that point he had thrown seven consecutive no-hit innings. Giants hitters had seen just about enough of him. Luckily for them, so had Lynn’s manager.
A couple of Cardinals relievers teamed up to cough up the lead in the ninth, with Hunter Pence hitting a leadoff single and scoring on Buster Posey’s bloop to right. After surviving a leadoff triple in the top of the 10th, the Giants won in the bottom of the inning when Nick Hundley smoked a homer to the arcade section in right field.
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The 2-1 win snapped a four-game losing streak. Here are five things to know …
—- Jeff Samardzija had no-hit stuff, and he ended up allowing just a pair of singles. Jose Martinez dropped one into shallow center in the fourth and scored two batters later when Dexter Fowler scorched a bouncer that Buster Posey couldn’t haul in at first. Samardzija walked one and struck out nine while throwing 112 pitches.
—- Samardzija regained the National League lead with 183 2/3 innings. He has 184 strikeouts in those innings and just 28 walks.
—- Pablo Sandoval hit into a double play and then struck out on a pitch that was up at helmet-level. He struck out again in the ninth. He is hitless in his last 26 at-bats.
San Francisco Giants
—- The temperature at first pitch was 95 degrees. It was the second-hottest game in the history of AT&T Park, topped only by a June, 2000 game that was played in 97-degree heat.
—- Let’s be honest, you’re surprised that I even made it through four facts. But here's one more: Pence pinch-hit for Denard Span against a lefty in the ninth ... that's potentially a preview of next season's plan.