Posey, Moore lead Giants past Diamondbacks
SAN FRANCISCO -- Buster Posey drove in two runs with a double and a sacrifice fly, and left-hander Matt Moore recorded his first home victory since being traded last month, leading the San Francisco Giants to a 4-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Wednesday afternoon and a split of their two-game series.
Joe Panik had three singles in a nine-hit attack as the Giants spoiled the major-league return of Diamondbacks right-hander Shelby Miller.
Posey and Hunter Pence drove in first-inning runs against Miller, who was returning from an eight-week stint at Triple-A, to give the Giants a lead they never relinquished en route to their third win in five games on their just completed homestand.
The two runs were all Miller (2-10) allowed in six innings. He gave up six hits, walked one and struck out three. His ERA dipped from 7.14 to 6.81.
Posey's sacrifice fly came in a two-run seventh inning that turned a 2-1 margin into a three-run advantage. Pinch-hitter Conor Gillaspie had a triple and Angel Pagan a double in the inning.
Moore (9-10) held the Diamondbacks to one run on five hits in 5 1/3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven.
The left-hander had suffered 8-5 and 9-5 losses in his first two home starts for the Giants.
A.J. Pollock singled, stole a base and scored on an infield out in the sixth inning for Arizona's only run against Moore.
The Diamondbacks threatened against the San Francisco bullpen in the eighth inning, loading the bases on a Jean Segura double and two walks against Sergio Romo.
But Giants closer Santiago Casilla was summoned with two outs and the bases loaded, and he struck out Yasmany Tomas to strand the potential game-tying runs on the bases.
Casilla gave up a two-out solo home run to pinch-hitter Jake Lamb in the ninth and a hit to Segura, his third, before locking down his 29th save.
The homer was Lamb's 26th of the season.
Brandon Crawford and Gorkys Hernandez also doubled for the Giants, who recorded five extra-base hits among their nine total.
Hernandez, subbing for Denard Span in center field, also made the defensive play of the game, snatching a Paul Goldschmidt drive inches before it was going to hit the fence in the sixth inning. Pollock was on first base with no outs in a 2-1 game at the time.
The Giants played their 15th consecutive error-free game.
Despite the win, the Giants finished August with just an 11-16 record, their worst month of the season.
Brandon Drury had two hits for the Diamondbacks, who won the series opener 4-3 on Tuesday night.
Arizona stole three bases in the game and finished the month with a club-record 42.
NOTES: In order to create a spot for RHP Shelby Miller on the active roster, the Diamondbacks demoted RHP Vicente Campos to Triple-A Reno. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy indicated before the game that he is leaning toward giving RHP Albert Suarez a second consecutive start when the No. 5 spot comes up in the rotation Friday in Chicago. ... Giants CF Denard Span (stiff neck) was not in the starting lineup. He left Tuesday's game after six innings when his neck acted up.