Shay Whitcomb’s infield single scored automatic runner Nate Furman from third base with one out in the bottom of the 11th inning Monday night, allowing the host San Francisco Giants to hand the playoff-contending St. Louis Cardinals a costly 5-4 loss in the opener of a three-game series.
After both teams brought their automatic runner around to score in the 10th, Giants reliever Jason Foley (3-1) set the stage for the heroics in the top of the 11th by preventing the Cardinals from scoring in the top of the inning.
Whitcomb’s hit, a high hopper to deep shortstop with the Cardinals playing the infield in, came after Drew Cavanaugh’s sacrifice bunt had moved Furman to third.
George Soriano (6-4), brought in to start the 11th, took the loss.
The Cardinals’ Leo Bernal and Giants’ Bryce Eldridge drove in the runs in the 10th, which came about after St. Louis (72-73), desperate for a win in the National League wild-card race, had drawn even in the ninth on a sacrifice fly by pinch-hitter Jose Fermin.
Eldridge drove in three runs with a double, a single and a sacrifice fly, Rafael Devers doubled twice, walked twice, scored a run and drove in another, and Logan Webb threw six effective innings for the Giants (60-85), who were playing the Cardinals for the first of six times over a 10-day stretch.
Webb, who had served up 16 runs over just 10 2/3 innings in his previous three starts, took a two-hit shutout two outs into the sixth inning before Alec Burleson launched his 22nd homer of the season, a solo shot, into the San Francisco Bay.
Webb was pulled after six innings and 99 pitches, having allowed just the one run and three hits. He walked two and struck out eight.
Cardinals starter Michael McGreevy worked 6 2/3 innings, allowing three runs (two earned) and six hits. He walked two and struck out four.
Whitcomb joined Eldridge and Devers with two hits apiece for the Giants, while Turner Hill scored twice.
Thomas Saggese collected a pair of singles and Burleson scored twice for the Cardinals, who fell to 3-4 on a critical nine-game Western swing that began with consecutive wins over the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The Giants scored single runs in the first, third and fifth innings before the visitors began their comeback.
