Jacob Stallings injured, Pirates strand nine runners in loss to Giants

May 16—If the Pittsburgh Pirates were going to beat the San Francisco Giants, it would require the third walk-off win in as many games.

Not only that, but the Pirates were without the player who hit the heroic home run Saturday night as catcher Jacob Stallings was removed from the game in the seventh inning with a left quad contusion.

Even so, manager Derek Shelton was confident the Pirates were positioned to pull off another dramatic victory until Mike Yastrzemski hit a two-run homer in the top of the ninth to lift the Giants to a 4-1 win Sunday afternoon before 7,356 at PNC Park.

"That's where we were at," Shelton said. "Yeah, 100% thought that was going to happen."

After losing back-to-back games in walk-off fashion, the Giants (24-16) salvaged a four-game series split. The Pirates (17-23), who won three of seven games in their homestand, start a six-game road trip Tuesday at St. Louis followed by a visit to Atlanta.

The Pirates got five solid innings from starter Mitch Keller (2-5), who allowed two earned runs on six hits and three walks with eight strikeouts on 92 pitches in what Shelton called his "best outing of the year."

"I thought it was the best he's been all year, in terms of attacking and executing," Shelton said. "Like I said, best changeup we've seen by far, with action, velocity. Slider was good, maintained throughout. Did a nice job, had a fairly quick fifth inning and we just didn't capitalize on some opportunities."

Keller got off to a rough start as the Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first inning. Keller walked leadoff hitter Mike Tauchman, who stole second, advanced to third on Buster Posey's slow roller down the third-base line and scored on Alex Dickerson's grounder to first.

The fourth inning was a promising sign for Keller (2-5), who has been up and down this season. It started with Evan Longoria drawing a walk and Brandon Crawford hitting a double. Keller got Darin Ruf swinging at a 95 mph fastball up in the zone and Mauricio Dubon on a slider before freezing Alex Wood with a four-seamer for a called third strike.

That prompted a fist pump from Keller, who rarely shows emotion on the mound but endured a six-run fourth inning in his previous start, a 14-1 loss to the Cincinnati Reds on May 10.

"Same situation — and we all know how the last one went — so it was a big moment for me getting out of that, second and third nobody out to strike out the side there," Keller said. "It was a huge moment. I felt really good to be on the other end of the fourth inning."

It sparked a rally from the Pirates, who got three consecutive singles by Stallings, Will Craig and Erik Gonzalez. That loaded the bases for Ka'ai Tom, whose sacrifice fly to left-center tied the score 1-1.

The Pirates' best chance was ruined when a hit-and-run went awry in the fifth inning. They had runners on first and third when Bryan Reynolds was caught in a rundown. As Giants second baseman Mauricio Dubon chased Reynolds back to first, he spied Adam Frazier leading down the third-base line. Dubon spun and threw to Evan Longoria, who tagged out Frazier as he slid head-first back to the base.

"I was still kind of wondering what he was doing even throwing it over there," Frazier said. "I wasn't that far off. He went little pump fake, I didn't really bite on that, but he pump faked it into a spin and perfect throw. So, hat's off to him. Nice play. Pretty unbelievable play."

Shelton said the Pirates anticipated Wood throwing a fastball, but the play blew up when the pitch went up and in and outside of the strike zone, leaving Reynolds exposed in between first and second base.

"Bryan did a really nice play stopping, because he knew where he was at," Shelton said. "We got the right pitch, we got it in the wrong spot. Because of it, it kind of backfired on us."

The Pirates challenged third-base umpire Mark Ripperger's call, but after a 56-second review it was upheld. Reynolds reached second on Wood's wild pitch, but Alex Wood (5-0) struck out Stallings to end the inning.

Keller was pulled in the sixth after giving up a leadoff single to Longoria and walking Crawford. Clay Holmes got Mauricio Dubon to ground out, but Longoria scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Holmes to give the Giants a 2-1 lead.

"You're just trying to keep the hitters in the game and give us a chance to win, and I think I did that," Keller said. "It's always a close game, so every run matters."

After hitting a two-run, walk-off homer to beat the Giants, 8-6, Stallings left the game in the seventh inning after taking a foul ball by Buster Posey off his leg. Stallings stayed in the game but was removed during the next at-bat and replaced by Michael Perez.

Stallings said he was sore when the medical staff checked on him, Shelton said, and "it was obvious he was in some discomfort" during a mound visit by pitching coach Oscar Marin. Shelton said Stallings is "day to day" and will be reassessed Monday.

In the ninth, Yastrzemski hit David Bednar's 2-1 fastball 406 feet into the right-field seats to stretch the Giants lead to 4-1. This time, the Pirates had no late-inning answer.

Despite finishing with eight hits, the Pirates didn't get an extra-base hit and left nine runners stranded in what has become a recurring theme for a team that ranks next-to-last in runs scored in the majors.

"We have to continue to work on that," Shelton said. "It's definitely been something that we have not done well. What would be more concerning to me is if we did not have baserunners, and we didn't have those opportunities. Now we just have to capitalize on those opportunities, and it's something that we are focusing on, but we have to do a better job in those situations."

Kevin Gorman is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Kevin by email at kgorman@triblive.com or via Twitter .