The Arizona Diamondbacks had a chance to pick up a game in the NL West standings Tuesday night in San Francisco against the Giants. Instead it was the Giants who scored the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth inning on a sacrifice fly by Buster Posey, and second-place San Francisco was the team to pick up up a game on the division-leading Los Angeles Dodgers.
As New York Yankees broadcaster John Sterling used to say, the Melk Man delivered. Melky Cabrera had three hits, and Giants starter Ryan Vogelsong worked out of a jam in the sixth that had Diamondbacks on second and third bases with one out in San Francisco's 3-1 win at AT&T Park.
Two unproductive ground balls got the D-backs nothing but Miguel Montero being thrown out at home plate and another out, and after John McDonald was walked intentionally, Arizona starting pitcher Joe Saunders struck out to end the inning.
After Posey's RBI off the D-backs' Bryan Shaw, the Giants got the bases loaded, and Joaquin Arias drove in Cabrera with a fielder's choice groundout for a key insurance run.
The Diamondbacks fell to 12-13 on the road, but they are actually better away from Chase Field. Still, they remained 10 1/2 games behind the Dodgers.
In a pitcher's duel that started with Saunders for the Diamondbacks and Vogelsong for the Giants, the D-backs scored first. Josh Bell singled up the middle with two out, driving in Chris Young.
The Giants tied it on Posey's double to drive in Cabrera, but the sixth inning could have been worse. Reliever Brad Ziegler got out of the jam, though, after Saunders left with runners on first and third. Arias grounded into a rare 1-2-3 double play, Montero reaching to take Ziegler's throw for the force at home and then firing low to first baseman Paul Goldschmidt, who replays showed scooped the ball after Arias had touched the bag but an out was called.
In his first game of the season as the leadoff man, Aaron Hill went 1-for-5 and struck out three times for the Diamondbacks. He made the last out of the game, striking out on a breaking ball in the dirt and a checked swing that was ruled a swing.
Shaw took the loss to fall to 1-3. The D-backs managed just six hits, and now need a big game from ace Ian Kennedy against Tim Lincecum on Wednesday to avoid a three-game sweep.