PHOENIX _ Giants reliever Mark Melancon hadn't pitched on consecutive days this season, but when Sunday's series finale in Arizona went to extra innings, manager Bruce Bochy wanted one of the most reliable options left in his bullpen on the mound.
After Melancon took the mound in the bottom of the 10th, the Giants would not have a chance to hit in the bottom of the 11th. The game ended on a walk-off single from center fielder Tim Locastro and a 3-2 defeat for San Francisco.
D'backs first baseman Christian Walker scored the game-winning run after singling to open the inning and prevented the Giants (33-43) from securing their first three-game sweep of the season.
Melancon entered the game with a 3.16 ERA and five scoreless outings in his last six appearances, but he couldn't keep the bottom of the D'backs order in check on Sunday after pitching on Saturday night.
Giants starter Shaun Anderson turned in a strong six innings against Arizona, but he needed help from reliever Reyes Moronta to record his fourth quality start of the month.
Anderson allowed a single and double to open the top of the seventh before manager Bruce Bochy called on Moronta to do his best Harry Houdini impression. The right-hander threw a wild pitch that skipped all the way to the backstop, allowed a towering fly ball that landed halfway up the right field bleachers and still escaped the jam unscathed.
Catcher Stephen Vogt collected Moronta's wild pitch and tagged out Eduardo Escobar as he was trying to score from third to secure the first out of the inning. After Nick Ahmed hit a groundout to Brandon Crawford with the infield pulled in, Moronta gave up a long flyball to pinch hitter Domingo Leyba that narrowly missed hitting the right field foul pole.
With the go-ahead run standing on third, Moronta threw a 3-2 slider past Leyba to end the inning and give the Giants a chance to complete a sweep.
Moronta's efforts closed the book on Anderson, who allowed five hits in six-plus innings in one of his best starts of his young career. Anderson has held the opposition to two earned runs or fewer in five of his eight starts and earned the right to remain in a rotation that's benefitted from the stability he's provided.
The Giants mustered three hits in the first six innings against Anderson's counterpart, D'backs starter Merrill Kelly, but center fielder Kevin Pillar forced Arizona to turn to its bullpen with a leadoff home run to tie the game at 2 in the bottom of the seventh.
Pillar's second home run of the series gave him sole possession of the team lead with 10 home runs and helped him continue his impressive pace for the month of June. The veteran outfielder entered the day hitting .319 with an .870 OPS this month and his contributions have played a significant part in the overall improvement the Giants' offense has made over the last three weeks.
The Giants scored the first of their two runs against Kelly in the top of the fourth on a RBI groundout from Vogt. Third baseman Evan Longoria led off the inning with a single and advanced to third on a double from Brandon Belt, but after Vogt's groundout to first, the Giants failed to bring the go-ahead run home from third.
Anderson gave the lead back to the D'backs in the bottom half of the inning after a bit of misfortune cost him the potential second out of the inning. The rookie struck out D'backs right fielder Adam Jones on three pitches, but the 0-2 slider Jones swung through skipped past Vogt, allowing Jones to advance to advance to first on a dropped third strike.
After a single from Eduardo Escobar, Anderson gave up the go-ahead hit on a one-out line drive that landed in front of right fielder Mike Yastrzemski. Christian Walker's single came on the second fastest pitch Anderson threw as he drilled a 95.3 mile per hour fastball into right field after fouling off five consecutive offerings.
The Giants rallied to tie the game in the seventh, but after scoring at least seven runs in each of their previous three games, the lineup looked much like it did at the beginning of the seven-game road trip in Los Angeles.
