ATLANTA _ The Braves abandoned their downtown home and moved to the suburbs. SunTrust Park is built along Windy Ridge Parkway, which as you might expect, is on a windy ridge.
It only took a few homestands to confirm: this is a hitter's park.
It took 17 innings, but the Giants finally made it one. Austin Slater hit an opposite-field fly that somehow became a three-run home run, and Mark Melancon righted himself to save a much-needed 6-3 victory over the Atlanta Braves on Tuesday night.
Left-hander Matt Moore also set aside both a miserable June and his season-long road woes while pitching into the eighth inning, and Brandon Belt barreled up some bottled frustration with a solo home run in the ninth as the Giants snapped a seven-game losing streak.
The Giants had been shut out Monday and trailed 2-0 entering the eighth inning when Hunter Pence beat out an infield single and the Braves gave them a huge break. Brandon Belt hit a potential double-play ball to second base but shortstop Dansby Swanson couldn't secure the throw as he tried to make a quick transfer.
Umpire Quinn Wolcott originally called Pence out but the Giants won a replay challenge, as video evidence showed that Swanson had never secured the ball. Then Slater hit Julio Teheran's first pitch and snuck it over the right field fence for his second career home run.
The Braves disintegrated from there, committing a pair of errors as two more runs scored to give the Giants a 5-2 lead.
Once again, the Giants bullpen needed the cushion as the Braves threatened in the eighth. Moore stayed in the game long enough to face one batter, and Ender Inciarte lined a single.
With their setup staff either suspended (Hunter Strickland) or demoted to Triple-A Sacramento (Derek Law) Giants manager Bruce Bochy turned to George Kontos and the right-hander's slider backed up on him.
Kontos gave up hits to two of the three batters he faced, and although he lucked out when Matt Kemp fouled off a hanging pitch over the middle, he wasn't so fortunate when he followed with another that resulted in a ground-rule double that put the tying runs in scoring position.
But Josh Osich entered and completed his assignment, getting Matt Adams to pop up. Then Sam Dyson, no longer a reclamation project but a credible member of this bullpen, survived a fouled pitch down the middle before getting Kurt Suzuki to fly out.
Melancon had short memory two days after giving up Nolan Arenado's walk-off home run at Coors Field while blowing his fourth save in 14 chances this season. The former All-Star closer used his cutter and curve to get three quick ground outs and record his first save since May 27, when the Braves were at AT&T Park.
Until the eighth, the Giants appeared destined for their eighth consecutive loss. They had advanced just one runner into scoring position in the first seven innings against Teheran, and that came in the third when No. 8 hitter Kelby Tomlinson hit a one-out single and Moore sacrificed him to second base.
Moore had his moments when the stroke zone eluded him, but limited the Braves' chances while completing seven innings.
Once again, the Giants' outfield play provided an occasional disservice. Center fielder Denard Span got turned around on Johan Camargo's RBI triple in the third inning, but he did a credible job two batters later when he sprinted back to snag Inciarte's sacrifice fly.
Pence continued to have problems in right field, to the point where you wonder if he's having vision problems. He badly misplayed Camargo's ball that fell in front of him for a charitably scored double that should have ended the seventh inning. Moore had to get a lineout from Teheran to strand two runners in scoring position.
Belt's 12th homer of the season came one day after he got jobbed out of a double by a bad call that a replay review failed to overturn, then lost two singles on diving plays in left field and second base.
He tried to bunt on a 2-0 count to combat the infield shift, but fouled it off. Then he turned on the next pitch from right-hander Jason Motte.
Belt is never boring. For a change, the opponent's ninth inning was.
