Giants 4, Indians 1
Brandon Hicks delivered a walk-off, three-run homer with two outs in the ninth inning as host San Francisco completed a three-game interleague sweep of Cleveland.
Buster Posey singled to lead off the ninth against Cody Allen (2-1) and pinch runner Ehire Adrianza moved to second on a sacrifice by Gregor Blanco. Allen briefly recovered to strike out Pablo Sandoval before intentionally walking Brandon Crawford to get to Hicks, who drove a high fastball into the left-field stands for his second game-ending home run.
Sergio Romo (2-0) worked a perfect ninth to get the win and give the Giants a 3-0 mark in interleague play after going 6-14 last season. Sandoval had two hits and scored a run for San Francisco, which completed its first three-game interleague sweep since May 20-22, 2011, against the Oakland Athletics.
The Giants broke up the scoreless draw in the fourth, when Sandoval doubled with two outs and Crawford ripped the next pitch from Danny Salazar down the right-field line for an RBI double. The game remained unchanged until reliever Santiago Casilla needed only four pitches in the eighth to ruin Ryan Vogelsong’s strong start as he left a 1-2 fastball over the plate for Yan Gomes, who sent it over the fence in left-center.
Vogelsong rebounded from his shortest outing in 82 starts as a Giant in which he was tagged for five runs in 1 1/3 innings on Monday by allowing only two hits and two walks while fanning a season-high six over seven frames. Salazar was equally impressive over the same number of innings, yielding a run on five hits while striking out eight.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The top third of the Indians’ order (Michael Bourn, Nick Swisher and Jason Kipnis) batted 12-for-37 in this series while the other six hitters in the lineup went a combined 5-for-60. … Sandoval’s second hit – a single on a 2-2 count in the seventh – ended a season-long 0-for-42 drought with two strikes. … Cleveland cleanup hitter Carlos Santana went 0-for-4 and is 3-for-58 with one home run and two RBIs over his last 16 contests.