Giants beat slumping Braves in 10 innings on wild pitch

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Tyler Fitzgerald scored on a wild pitch by Pierce Johnson with two outs in the 10th inning and the San Francisco Giants beat the Atlanta Braves 5-4 on Friday night for their third straight win.

After getting picked off first to end the ninth, Fitzgerald began the 10th on second base. He advanced to third on a one-groundout and then scored when Johnson (1-2) threw a 1-2 pitch to the backstop, sending the Braves to their fifth straight loss.

Spencer Bivens (2-2) came on with the bases loaded in the 10th and got Luke Williams on a groundout to end the inning for the win.

Craig Kimbrel, the Braves' career leader in saves, made his first appearance for Atlanta since the 2014 season when he entered the game in the seventh. He allowed a leadoff single to Heliot Ramos, but got bailed out when Sean Murphy threw out Ramos trying to steal second to keep it tied at 4.

Kimbrel then walked Jung Hoo Lee, but picked him off first and then struck out Wilmer Flores to get out of the inning.

The Giants' struggling offense produced three runs in the first with help from two errors by Atlanta and a run-scoring wild pitch thrown by Spencer Schwellenbach.

San Francisco led 4-2 before the Braves tied it in the seventh when Matt Olson hit a two-run homer off reliever Ryan Walker.

Key moment

There was an odd moment in the fourth inning when Murphy hit a sacrifice fly to right with the bases loaded for Atlanta. Olson easily beat the throw by Mike Yastrzemski, but there was confusion because a ball had been thrown on the field by a fan in the stands. The umpires huddled to discuss it, but let the play stand.

Key stat

Both teams played their 26th one-run game, tied for the most in the majors. The Giants improved to 14-12 in those games and the Braves fell to 9-17.

Up next

RHP Bryce Elder (2-3, 4.56 ERA) will start the middle game of the series for Atlanta against RHP Logan Webb (5-5, 2.55).

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AP MLB: https://apnews.com/hub/MLB