Giants 7, Braves 0
SAN FRANCISCO -- The San Francisco Giants recorded their fourth consecutive home shutout Thursday night, breaking open a tight game with a six-run eighth inning en route to a 7-0 win over the Atlanta Braves in the opener of a four-game series.
Right-hander Chris Heston combined with relievers Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and Javier Lopez on a four-hitter as Giants pitchers ran their streak of consecutive scoreless innings at home to 37 to kick off a seven-game homestand.
The Giants haven't allowed a run at AT&T Park since the eighth inning of a 3-2 win over Miami on May 10. San Francisco shut out the Los Angeles Dodgers in three straight games May 19-21.
The 37-inning scoreless streak matches the club's best since moving west in 1962.
Heston (5-3) allowed four hits over 7 1/3 innings while recording his first home win since April 18. He struck out six and walked one.
The Giants led only 1-0, the product of a solo home run by first baseman Brandon Belt in the seventh inning, before Heston turned the ball over to the San Francisco bullpen with the potential tying run aboard and one out in the eighth.
Affeldt struck out pinch-hitter Jonny Gomes for the second out, and Romo, after watching Pedro Ciriaco steal second, preserved the lead by getting center fielder Cameron Maybin to ground to shortstop.
The Giants, who have won 12 of their last 14 games and five straight at home, made it a rout in the last of the eighth against right-handed reliever Brandon Cunniff.
San Francisco loaded the bases on a walk to third baseman Matt Duffy and consecutive singles by pinch-hitter Gregor Blanco and left fielder Nori Aoki.
Second baseman Joe Panik made it 3-0 with a two-RBI double, and right fielder Hunter Pence hit the next pitch for a two-run triple for a five-run lead.
Pence's hit was the first given up by Cunniff to a right-handed hitter this season, a hitless string that had reached 30 batters.
Pence scored on a wild pitch by left-hander Donnie Veal to make it 6-0, and successive doubles by Belt and shortstop Brandon Crawford produced the inning's sixth run.
Belt's home run, his sixth of the season, was the only run allowed by Braves starter Shelby Miller (5-2) in seven innings.
The right-hander allowed five hits in his seven innings. He struck out one and did not walk a batter in his 10th consecutive start this season in which he allowed two or fewer runs.
Belt, Aoki, Crawford and center fielder Angel Pagan had two hits apiece for the Giants, who out-hit the Braves 12-4.
The loss was the Braves' third in four games on their 10-game trip.
Each team had only one hit and neither advanced a runner past first base in the first five innings.
Recently acquired third baseman Juan Uribe had the Atlanta hit, a one-out single in the second inning.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford countered with a two-out single in the bottom of the inning.
The only other baserunner through five innings was the result of a two-out walk drawn by Braves right fielder Nick Markakis off Heston in the fourth.
NOTES: Braves RHP Shelby Miller's previous start against the Giants came as a member of the St. Louis Cardinals in Game 4 of last year's National League Championship Series. Miller lasted only 3 2/3 innings in a game eventually won by the Giants 6-4. ... Newly acquired Braves 3B Juan Uribe entered the game with eight hits against the Giants already this season as a member of the Los Angeles Dodgers. Uribe, a former Giant, ranks as one of the all-time leaders among right-handed hitters in home runs hit at AT&T Park with 26. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy announced before the game that RHP Jake Peavy, currently on a rehab assignment with Triple-A Sacramento, would need at least two more starts in the minors before being considered for reinstatement to the major league club. Peavy gave up nine hits and six runs in 4 2/3 innings in his second rehab start Wednesday.