Braves 8, Giants 0
SAN FRANCISCO -- Rookie Williams Perez shut out the hottest team in the majors, the San Francisco Giants, over seven innings, en route to his first major league win, pitching the Atlanta Braves to an 8-0 victory Saturday night.
Second baseman Jace Peterson and third baseman Juan Uribe combined for six hits and six runs scored as the Braves got to Giants right-hander Tim Lincecum (5-3), who hadn't allowed a run at home since April 21, for four runs in 4 1/3 innings, ending his scoreless-innings streak at home at 23 and his winning streak at four.
After watching solid starting efforts by right-handers Shelby Miller and Mike Foltynewicz go to waste in the first two games of the series -- both losses -- Perez was even better in the longest of his three major league starts.
He allowed four hits and four walks in his seven innings, but stranded seven runners, including two apiece in the first and sixth innings.
Perez (1-0) struck out three and lowered his ERA as a Braves starter to 1.00.
The 24-year-old also recorded his first big-league hit on a sixth-inning grounder off the glove of Giants reliever Yusmeiro Petit. It marked the first time Perez had reached base in six major league plate appearances.
Peterson's three hits included a double and a triple, and Uribe capped his three-hit night with a two-run homer for the Braves, who had totaled two runs on 10 hits in the first two games of the series.
For Uribe, a former Giant, the home run was the 27th of his career at AT&T Park and his first as a Brave.
Center fielder Cameron Maybin and shortstop Andrelton Simmons contributed two hits and two RBIs apiece to Atlanta's 14-hit attack.
The win was just the Braves' second in the first six outings on their 10-game Western trip.
Right fielder Hunter Pence reached base three times and catcher Andrew Susac, starting in place of resting Buster Posey, walked twice for the Giants, who had won 13 of their last 15 games, including six in a row at home, during which they had outscored the opposition 24-4.
The Giants finished with eight hits, all singles, off four Braves pitchers.
The loss, coupled with the Los Angeles Dodgers' win at St. Louis, ended the Giants' one-day stay atop the National League West, dropping them a half-game behind their rivals.
Lincecum gave up single runs in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, failing to finish the fifth for the first time in six home starts this season. He was pulled in favor of right-hander George Kontos with two on and one out.
The Braves benefited from a bit of good fortune in each of their run-scoring innings against the former two-time Cy Young Award winner.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford came within inches of turning rival shortstop Simmons' two-on, one-out grounder in the second inning into a double play. But the ball kicked off the end of Crawford's glove for an RBI single rather than a potential inning-ender.
A throwing error by Susac on a stolen base by Peterson in the third inning allowed the runner to advance to third base, from where he scored on Maybin's single through a San Francisco infield that was playing in.
Bloop hits by catcher Christian Bethancourt in the fourth and first baseman Freddie Freeman in the fifth produced the other two runs against Lincecum.
NOTES: The Braves signed C Ryan Lavarnway to a minor-league contract Saturday and sent him to Triple-A Gwinnett. The 27-year-old left the Baltimore Orioles as a free agent after having been designated for assignment last week. The .192 career hitter had a .107 average for the Orioles this season. ... The Braves also announced that 25-year-old Cuban prospect OF Dian Toscano, signed in December, will begin working out at the club's spring training facility in Kissimmee, Fla., before getting a minor-league assignment. ... Giants RHP Matt Cain threw a 30-pitch batting practice session before the game and pronounced himself ready to take the next step in his rehabilitation from a flexor tendon strain in his right arm. That next step is expected to be a trip to the Giants' spring training facility in Scottsdale, Ariz., sometime this week. ... The Giants also reported Saturday that RHP Jake Peavy's back tightened up on him after his second injury rehab start. He has been told to take time off.