Heliot Ramos went 3-for-4 with an RBI and a run to help the San Francisco Giants record a 2-1 victory over the host Kansas City Royals on Friday night.
Mason Black pitched 5 2/3 scoreless innings to earn his first major league victory. Patrick Bailey also drove in a run as the Giants (75-79) won for the third time in the past four games.
Bobby Witt Jr. had three hits for Kansas City to raise his major league-leading average to .334. The Royals have dropped five straight games and 14 of their past 21 but remain in possession of the American League’s second wild-card spot.
Kansas City threatened in the ninth as Giants closer Camilo Doval threw eight straight balls to Yuli Gurriel and Robbie Grossman to start the inning.
Adam Frazier struck out before Maikel Garcia hit a grounder to shortstop. Tyler Fitzgerald couldn’t get the ball out of his glove and Grossman beat his throw to second to load the bases.
Garrett Hampson then hit a liner down the third-base line that was narrowly foul — it would have at least tied the game — before hitting a sacrifice fly to right to score Gurriel. Doval then struck out Tommy Pham to notch his 23rd save.
Ramos fell a homer short of the cycle, and Casey Schmitt added two hits for the Giants.
Black (1-4) struck out four and gave up four hits and one walk. Sean Hjelle got the final out in the sixth, Erik Miller struck out two in the seventh and Tyler Rogers worked around a hit from Witt in the eighth to keep the Royals off the board.
Kansas City’s Michael Wacha (13-8) gave up two runs and six hits over 5 2/3 innings. He struck out five and walked one while losing for just the second time in his last 11 decisions.
San Francisco’s Mike Yastrzemski led off the game with a single and Mark Canha followed with a walk. Yastrzemski moved to third on a flyout before Ramos reached on an infield hit to score Yastrzemski.
San Francisco added a run in the sixth. Ramos slugged a two-out double to center and scored when Patrick Bailey sent a ground single through the right side to end Wacha’s night.
Witt singled to lead off the Kansas City sixth and Black retired the next two hitters. However, the latter one was Michael Massey’s deep fly to the warning track in right and Giants manager Bob Melvin quickly came out to remove Black.
Hjelle retired Gurriel on a grounder to end the inning.
