BOX SCORE

PHOENIX Hunter Pence whiled away a few idle moments before batting practice chatting with reporters Friday afternoon, casually shaking his head at his strange fortunes at the plate since joining the Giants.As for Pablo Sandoval, he was just glad to be back in the lineup.No, Buster Posey cannot carry the Giants every night. Sometimes the third and fifth hitters must use the hoisting straps.Pence did his part with his third career grand slam, Sandoval contributed three hits and a game-changing defensive play, and the Giants nudged nearer to bubbly with a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field Friday night.Matt Cain pitched out of enough trouble to win his career-high tying 14th game as the Giants reduced their magic number to 11 while retaining a 7 -game lead in the NL West.Sandoval, who was benched on Wednesday after two messy games in Colorado, made a lunging catch of Chris Youngs hard line drive with the bases loaded and one out in the sixth inning.Starting pitching reportCain (14-5) didnt have his smoothest outing by a long shot, but he parlayed some luck, some good defense and enough well timed pitches to hold the Diamondbacks scoreless into the sixth inning.Cain needed 34 pitches to gut through the first inning, when Arizona failed to score despite three walks and a bunt single. Catcher Buster Posey caught rookie Adam Eaton trying to steal third base and Cain got Justin Upton to hit a playable foul pop to strand the bases loaded.Cain needed an efficient second inning to get his pitch count in order, so it was damaging when third baseman Pablo Sandoval fielded a potential double-play grounder and yanked his throw past second baseman Marco Scutaro and into right field. But after a sacrifice moved the runners to second and third, Cain got Eaton to hit a shallow fly out to left field and induced a grounder from Aaron Hill to escape yet another jam.The first two batters reached against Cain in the fifth, but Jason Kubel lined into a double play to defuse yet another chance.But when the Diamondbacks got the first two batters aboard again in the sixth, Bochy went to his bullpen. Cain threw a first-pitch curveball that hit Miguel Monteros foot and then Upton grounded a single to end the right-handers night.He needed 106 pitches to record just 15 outs, but he left with a shutout intact and qualified for his career-high tying 14th victory.Bullpen reportThe relievers allowed one of Cains two runners to score in the sixth when Jose Mijares allowed a single to the only batter he faced. The threat grew when Guillermo Mota