KANSAS CITY, Mo. _ Even when Bruce Bochy isn't in the ballpark, his intuition has a way of working out.
While Bochy recuperated from a heart procedure in San Diego on Tuesday, Matt Cain rewarded the manager's faith in him. Cain was brilliant while holding the Kansas City Royals to a run on four hits in seven innings, cementing a place in the Giants rotation that looked so shaky just a week ago.
The Giants bullpen was just as tough, Joe Panik hit a tiebreaking single in the 11th inning and interim manager Ron Wotus shook hands after a 2-1 victory at Kauffman Stadium.
Nick Hundley doubled and scored on Panik's single, which Royals center fielder Lorenzo Cain only managed to trap.
Closer Mark Melancon entered for the save and struck out Raul Mondesi to strand two runners as the Giants came out on top in their first game at Kauffman Stadium since they won Game 7 of the 2014 World Series here.
Before Panik's hit found grass instead of leather, both teams fumbled for a clutch hit. The Royals are 2 for 37 this season with two outs and runners in scoring position (and 0 for 6 Tuesday), the worst in the major leagues.
The Giants almost out-wasted the Royals. Their lowlight came in the seventh inning when they had three chances to score the tiebreaking run from third base, and couldn't do it.
As a consequence, Matt Cain took no decision. He was denied the chance to win his first game in an AL park since June 18, 2012, at Anaheim � the start after he threw his perfect game against the Houston Astros. (The Astros were still an NL team at the time, by the way.)
But Cain built on the momentum from his previous start against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
Just like his last start, which began with a triple to Arizona's A.J. Pollock, this one didn't begin well for Cain. Alex Gordon hit a double to the right-center gap on a fastball down the middle. But Cain stranded him, and the only run he allowed came in the fifth inning on Whit Merrifield's first major league home run.
Will the Giants skip Cain's next turn Sunday at Coors Field? It doesn't seem likely, both given Cain's performance and the fact that moving up Madison Bumgarner would mean their left-handed ace would not pitch in the following series against the Los Angeles Dodgers.
The game got interesting the moment Cain departed after throwing 86 pitches. Ty Blach ran into trouble when he issued a leadoff walk and hit a batter before Mike Moustakas lined out. Then George Kontos appeared to have Cain dominated before the Royals' speedy No.3 hitter reached on an infield single that loaded the bases. Left-hander Steven Okert was next, and he got Eric Hosmer to hit a sharp grounder to third base. Brandon Belt won the footrace to the bag.
The real hero in the inning was Hundley, who scooped a pair of Okert's pitches in the dirt to save a run.
The Giants scored their only run for Cain in the sixth, when Panik singled and crossed the plate on Hunter Pence's RBI single. They would have taken the lead, but Royals catcher Salvador Perez made an incredible tag at the plate.
Belt had tried to score from second base on Posey's single, which shortstop Alcides Escobar dived to keep on the infield. Perez barely picked Escobar's throw and held the ball like a snow cone as he stuck his mitt in front of the plate. Instead of kicking the ball out, Belt's big ol' size 15s actually rammed the ball into the pocket.
The Giants painfully failed to score the tiebreaking run from third base with no outs in the seventh inning. They started their rally when Brandon Crawford hustled for a double and Eduardo Nunez fouled off a bunt attempt before threading a single through the left side.
Hundley struck out, and then left-hander Travis Wood walked Panik to load the bases. Royals manager Ned Yost stayed with Wood against Chris Marrero, who had a golden opportunity.
But Marrero didn't protect with two strikes and took a fastball as umpire Lance Barksdale rang him up. It was the key at-bat in the inning, which ended with Denard Span tapping out to second base.
After a week on the concussion list, it should come as no surprise that Buster Posey didn't look too comfortable at the plate. He came to bat with two on and two out in the 10th and didn't take good swings while striking out against left-hander Scott Alexander. Posey is expected to DH again on Wednesday.
But the Giants bullpen kept extending the game. Derek Law pitched a pair of shutout innings to earn the victory.
