Giants 1, Padres 0
SAN FRANCISCO -- Johnny Cueto outdueled James Shields in a battle of former Kansas City Royals World Series aces Tuesday night, striking out 11 en route to a seven-hit shutout, lifting the San Francisco Giants to a 1-0 victory over the San Diego Padres.
Denard Span doubled home Brandon Crawford with the only run of the game in the fifth inning as the Giants won for the fourth time in five games after opening their current 10-game homestand with four consecutive losses.
The Padres, who fell 5-4 to the Giants in the series opener Monday night, dropped a seventh straight at AT&T Park.
Cueto (4-1) continued his brilliant start to his first year with the Giants, stranding three Padres in scoring position in the first five innings before finishing with a flourish.
Cueto, who has pitched at least seven innings in all five of his Giants starts, saved five strikeouts for the final four innings, allowing only two hits during that stretch.
He walked only one batter in the game, giving him just five in his five starts.
The win was the 100th of Cueto's career, making him just the 12th Dominican-born pitcher to achieve the milestone.
Cueto pitched two shutouts last season, one each for the Cincinnati Reds (July 7 at Washington) and Royals (Aug. 8 vs. Detroit).
The 11 strikeouts were his most since he recorded 12 in just six innings against the Los Angeles Dodgers on June 11, 2014.
Shields (0-4) was nearly as good. He allowed only three hits in seven innings, but the one run he gave up was one too many.
He walked four and struck out two.
Shields was supported by no runs for the third time in his five starts this season.
Crawford batted three times against Shields and was never retired, sandwiching his fifth-inning single with a hit by pitch and an intentional walk.
Brandon Belt and Hunter Pence also doubled for the Giants, who totaled three doubles among their four hits.
Alexei Ramirez had two of the Padres' seven hits.
The Giants ended Shields' no-hit bid, and subsequently his shutout, in the bottom of the fifth inning.
Crawford led off with a single, the Giants' first hit, and was sacrificed to second.
With two outs, Span hit a deep drive that Padres right fielder Matt Kemp stopping chasing. The ball wound up hitting low on the wall, certainly in a catchable area, but turned into a run-scoring double.
The Giants threatened to have a big inning, but Padres left fielder Melvin Upton Jr. made a sliding catch with two on and two outs on a liner by Matt Duffy, ending the uprising.
The Padres actually got on the scoreboard first in the top of the fifth, only to have the run erased on video replay.
Singles by Ramirez and Shields sandwiched a walk to Adam Rosales to load the bases with one out.
Jon Jay then grounded to shortstop, and the Giants went for a second-to-first double play. When Jay was called safe at first base, it appeared Ramirez scored the first run of the game.
However, the Giants challenged the call, and after a short review, the ruling was overturned, reverting the score back to 0-0.
It marked the third time in the first five innings that the Padres stranded a runner at third base.
NOTES: C Austin Hedges, a Padres farmhand at Triple-A El Paso, will undergo surgery to repair a fractured hamate bone in his left hand. He is expected to be out close to two months. ... The Padres purchased the contract of LHP Michael Kirkman from El Paso while optioning INF Jose Pirela to the minors. As part of the transaction, the club designated RHP Cory Mazzoni for assignment. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy noted before the game he planned to call the Major League Baseball office to complain about a call in Monday's game that was not overturned despite what he thought was clear visual evidence. It occurred on a diving catch by Padres RF Matt Kemp late in the Giants' 5-4 win. ... Giants LF Angel Pagan entered play Tuesday ranked first in the National League in batting average with two outs (.579), third in hits (26) and fifth in batting average (.356).