Giants snap four-game skid

Photo by: Gene J. Puskar

AP

Photo

Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher Charlie Morton throws in the first inning of a baseball game against the San Francisco Giants in Pittsburgh on Tuesday, April 26, 2011.

Associated Press

PITTSBURGH

Darren Ford scored on a fielder’s choice in the 10th inning and came home with the tying run as a pinch runner in the eighth, helping the San Francisco Giants snap a season-high four-game losing streak with a 3-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night.

The Giants scored all their runs on plays that did not involve a hit.

Ford, a rookie without a hit in the majors, reached in the 10th when Nate Schierholtz — who led off with a double — was thrown out at third on Ford’s sacrifice attempt. But Ford went from first to third on an errant pickoff throw by Joel Hanrahan (0-1).

He scored on Freddy Sanchez’s grounder to second, waiting until Neil Walker threw to first before taking off for home and forcing an errant throw by first baseman Lyle Overbay.

In the eighth, Ford entered as a pinch runner and went from first to third on Sanchez’s single. He scored two batters later on Buster Posey’s sacrifice fly to tie the game at 2.

The Giants’ first run also came on a sacrifice fly — Aubrey Huff drove in Aaron Rowand in the sixth.

Sergio Romo (1-0) earned the win with a perfect 10th.

Giants starter Matt Cain was charged with two runs on four hits and a walk with six strikeouts in six innings.

His only mistake was a 2-2 pitch in the second to Jones, who hit his team-high fourth home to right-center.

During the top of that inning, Andrew McCutchen saved a run when he covered plenty of ground in making a diving catch on a ball hit by Miguel Tejada into the right-center gap.

The Pirates’ Charlie Morton — 2-12 with a 7.57 ERA last season — missed a chance at surpassing his win total last season when San Francisco scored in the eighth. Morton lowered his ERA to 3.00 by allowing a run on four hits and three walks with six strikeouts.

The Pirates took a 2-1 lead with a two-out run in the sixth. Matt Diaz walked, stole second and scored on Overbay’s single.

Morton was lifted after Pablo Sandoval singled and Pat Burrell walked to lead off the seventh.