LDN - Sports

Cueto pitches Giants past Cardinals

[September 16, 2016] SAN FRANCISCO -- Even after San Francisco Giants manager Bruce Bochy pushed back his players' mandatory arrival time to 5 p.m. Thursday night, Johnny Cueto showed up 10 minutes late.

Fortunately for the Giants, the right-hander stayed late to finish his work.

Cueto pitched a five-hitter and helped his own cause with a go-ahead sacrifice fly in the fourth inning, leading the Giants to a 6-2 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a four-game series.

The Cardinals' loss handed the National League Central title to the Chicago Cubs, who lost to the Milwaukee Brewers earlier in the evening.

Hunter Pence hit a two-run homer, Buster Posey had four hits and Denard Span, demoted to eighth in the batting order, laced a key two-run single, helping the Giants (78-68) move two games ahead of the Cardinals (76-70) in the National League wild-card race.

"Tomorrow, 5 o'clock again," Bochy proudly boasted after the win. "We did play well."

The Giants also gained a game on the Los Angeles Dodgers (82-64) atop the NL West, but still trail by four with 16 to play.

The New York Mets (77-69), who were idle Thursday, reside between the Giants and Cardinals in the second wild-card spot, one game ahead of St. Louis.

"There was added intensity with who we're playing," Bochy said of the playoff-type atmosphere. "We're both fighting to get there. We knew we had to go out and play well, and we did that."

Cueto (16-5) became the NL's fourth 16-game winner with his league-leading fifth complete game.

He gave up two runs on five hits in the third and fourth innings, but surrendered neither a hit nor a run in his other seven innings en route to his second consecutive win.

He finished with one walk and seven strikeouts.

"Every inning I felt better," Cueto insisted. "This was my game."

Cueto outpitched Cardinals right-hander Adam Wainwright, who had held a 2-1 advantage in their three previous career head-to-heads.

"Every game I will pitch from now on, I will pitch like a playoff game," Cueto assured. "That's the way we need to play, like it's a playoff game."

Wainwright (11-9) was roughed up for four runs and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. He walked three and struck out two.

"I don't have any excuses," Wainwright said. "They made some good swings and put some good at-bats on me. There were times that I didn't make the pitch that I needed to."

After Cueto's sacrifice fly contributed to a two-run fourth that gave the Giants the lead for good, San Francisco gave him some breathing room with a two-run seventh against the St. Louis bullpen.

Posey's fourth hit opened the inning against the second Cardinals pitcher, Zach Duke.

Duke left the game with two on and two out, before right-hander Matt Bowman gave up an infield single to Nunez and Span's game-breaking, two-run single that opened a 6-2 lead.

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Giants starting pitcher Johnny Cueto (47) delivers a pitch during the first inning against the St. Louis Cardinals at AT&T Park. Mandatory Credit: Neville E. Guard-USA TODAY Sports

Span was moved from first to eighth in the Giants' lineup in Bochy's response to getting swept by the San Diego Padres earlier in the week. The Giants entered the series with the NL's worst record in the second half.

"Sometimes you change things to change things, take some pressure off a player," Bochy said of Span, who entered the game in a 2-for-41 slump. "He handled it well."

Span finished the game with two of the Giants' 12 hits. Angel Pagan, the new leadoff man, also had two hits.

Randal Grichuk had a single and a double for the Cardinals, who began a 10-game trip with the best road record in the NL (43-28).

"We left a little damage out there. We had some chances," Cardinals manager Mike Matheny lamented. "We needed that big hit."

Wainwright aided in the Giants' two-run fourth inning by issuing a leadoff walk to Brandon Belt.

After Nunez doubled Belt to third, the Cardinals elected to walk Span intentionally, loading the bases for Cueto.

His sacrifice fly to right field gave the Giants a 3-2 lead, and Pagan followed with an RBI single, making it a two-run game.

The Cardinals erased the earlier 2-0 deficit created by Pence's homer with single tallies in the third and fourth.

Jedd Gyorko and Grichuk drove in the runs with singles, after which the Cardinals stranded a pair of baserunners in both innings.

NOTES: Giants RHP Johnny Cueto pitched seven 1-2-3 innings in his complete game. ... Giants C Buster Posey's four-hit game was his second of the season. ... Giants manager Bruce Bochy's later arrival time meant cancelling batting practice. ... Cardinals manager Mike Matheny announced before the game that LHP Jaime Garcia has been demoted to the bullpen and will be replaced by RHP Alex Reyes as the starter in Sunday's series finale. ... The Cardinals activated RHP Trevor Rosenthal (shoulder inflammation) from the disabled list.

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