ANAHEIM, Calif. _ If patience is a virtue worth celebrating, then Sunday was the perfect time for Brandon Belt and the San Francisco Giants to have their moment in the sun.
With a record-setting at-bat, a solo home run on the ninth pitch of another plate appearance and a grand total of 40 pitches faced on Sunday, Belt paced the Giants to a 4-2 win on a day when pace of play was the least of the Giants concerns.
The Giants waited for their seventh series of the season to secure their first series win, and they would have happily stayed in Anaheim past sunset if meant capturing a victory. They ultimately needed just three hours and 45 minutes to put the Angels away.
While Belt helped the Giants with his bat and glove, they turned to Major League Baseball's ERA leader Johnny Cueto to shut down a tough Angels lineup.
Cueto entered the afternoon with a league-best 0.45 ERA and lowered it to 0.35 with six innings of shutout ball highlighted by seven strikeouts in his second win of the season.
Though Cueto exited with a 4-0 lead, a two-run home run by Mike Trout off of Cory Gearrin in the bottom of the eighth cut the Giants' advantage in half, forcing Bruce Bochy to turn to Tony Watson and Hunter Strickland for six outs in higher-leverage situations than the manager anticipated.
After a Joe Panik single opened the game against Angels rookie right-hander Jaime Barria, Belt stepped into the box preparing for a battle. What ensued was a 21-pitch at-bat that featured 16 foul balls, including nine in a row with two strikes before Belt flew out to right fielder Kole Calhoun.
Belt's at-bat was the longest in Major League history, breaking a record set by Ricky Gutierrez against Bartolo Colon on June 26, 1998.
It was hardly the only time Belt forced his opponent to work.
Though Barria escaped a 49-pitch first inning without allowing a run, Belt singled off of him on an eight-pitch at-bat featuring four foul balls in the top of the third.
By the time Belt stepped to the plate in the top of the fifth, the Giants first baseman was locked in. There wasn't anything left for reliever Blake Parker to fool Belt with, so on the ninth pitch of his plate appearance, Belt slugged a 410-foot solo home run for his fourth home run in his last four games.
Belt became the first Giants player since Hunter Pence to homer in four straight games, as Pence accomplished the feat between Sept. 12-15 in 2013. The first baseman kept his streak alive despite sitting out Friday's game against the Angels on his 30th birthday.
Belt's home run marked his fifth of the season, which pushed him ahead of third baseman Evan Longoria for the Giants' team lead. Longoria tied Belt two innings earlier with a towering two-run shot to left center field for his fourth of the year, and it couldn't have come at a better time for the Giants' offense.
After the Giants loaded the bases against Barria in the top of the third, reliever Noe Ramirez induced a 6-4-3 double play off Buster Posey's bat that allowed the first run of the game to score. With two outs and runner on third, Ramirez could have escaped the inning by retiring the Giants' No. 5 hitter.
Instead, Longoria smashed a 2-0 curveball over the fence and provided Cueto with some additional cushion.
Coming off a seven-inning scoreless stint against the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday, Cueto continued the best month of his professional career with five no-hit innings to kick off his Sunday start.
In the bottom of the sixth, Cueto allowed a leadoff single to Ian Kinsler before striking out Trout for the second time. Cueto induced a groundball from Justin Upton, but a misplay by Brandon Crawford allowed the baserunners to reach safely. After a Shohei Ohtani single loaded the bases, Cueto buckled down against Luis Valbuena.
With a 12-plus inning scoreless streak on the line, Cueto forced Valbuena to pound a ball into the ground toward Belt, who set the stage for a 3-6-1 double play to end the inning. After Cueto raced over to first and beat Valbuena to the bag, he received a throw from Brandon Crawford, spun around and erupted with a gigantic fist pump.
Cueto's 0.35 ERA is the lowest by a Giants pitcher through four starts in a season since Ray Sadecki posted a 0.25 ERA in his first four outings in 1968.
