Pirates squander five-run lead, fail to put away Giants in crushing loss

"It always sucks," said Holderman, who pitched the ninth in favor of an unavailable David Bednar. "The first and last out are always the hardest. At least I die by my best pitch, the sweeper. Can't look back and say I wish I would have thrown something else. They did it. We had some late-inning magic yesterday and they did today. We live and die by it. We've got a series (finale) tomorrow, so we'll see how it goes and try to take the series."

The Giants proceeded to score four runs in the 10th inning off Carmen Mlodzinski, who allowed four hits and a pair of walks after entering to get the final out of the ninth. Patrick Bailey, Jorge Soler and Matos delivered with run-scoring singles and Brett Wisely drove in another run with a sacrifice fly. In all, three of the four runs Mlodzinski allowed were earned. 

"Looked like the ball was up," Shelton said. "I mean yesterday he was down. We did stretch him two. I mean, he just pitched yesterday and he came in, got out of the inning and then had to go back out. But it looked like in the second inning there was a lot of balls up in the zone."

The Pirates benefitted from a clean seventh thrown by Hunter Stratton, who struck out a pair to keep a 5-3 lead intact and continued to prove his worth as a reliable option out of the bullpen. Take away two four-run innings in April against the Mets and earlier this month against the Cubs, and Stratton has only allowed a run in over 20 innings of work. 

Aroldis Chapman was in charge of the eighth and struggled to throw strikes. He got ahead 0-2 to Wade before delivering 12 straight balls and three consecutive walks to load the bases. 

"We have to put the ball on the plate more. I think that's the thing. The walks are something that hurt us. And I know we gave up the hits but the reason we were in those situations was because of the walks," Shelton said. "I think in the 10th, we walked the leadoff hitter, so all of the sudden, now you've got the runner at second base, nobody out. And all of the sudden, we put ourselves in a first and second situation. We get a ball that rolls through the hole, so it's more just staying on the plate."

Holderman replaced Chapman and immediately got Patrick Bailey swinging for the first out. Soler followed by driving in a run on a short dribbler in front of home plate. Joey Bart fielded it and, instead of trying for a tag at home and risking the chance of coming away with nothing, he threw to first for the sure out, allowing the Giants to cut their deficit to one. 

"The only chance he has is on a tag. He's not going to get back for the force," Shelton said. "So, it's taking a chance on a tag. But at that point, it's like 'if we don't get an out there, all the sudden we're 5-4 with the bases loaded still.' So, yeah I thought he made the right play."

The Pirates supported starter Jared Jones with five runs in the fourth inning on a bases-loaded hit by pitch to Andrew McCutchen and this grand slam by Reynolds that made it 5-0: 

But the Giants chipped away with a run on a fifth-inning RBI single by Soler and two runs on this homer by Matt Chapman in the sixth: 

Still, Jones did enough to aid the effort, allowing just the three runs in six innings to produce his seventh quality start in 10 outings this season. He allowed six hits, a career-high three walks and struck out five. 

"I threw the pitches I needed to throw when I needed to throw them," Jones said. "Obviously, I need to get better at throwing certain pitches in tight spots where that could end up costing us the ballgame. I think that's what happened. I don't give up that home run to Chapman, if I throw a better pitch, we probably walk away with a win." 

Now, after an uplifting triumph that was followed with a disheartening defeat, the Pirates will have to regroup in search of the series win Thursday afternoon. 

"We play a lot of games, so in the grand scheme, we've just got to think things by series or between off-days," Holderman said. "Just put it behind you. I'll go home, see my family, reset and then show up tomorrow for the game."