Baggs' Instant Replay: Giants 6, Phillies 5 (10)

BOX SCORE
SAN FRANCISCOIf at first you dont succeed, squeeze, squeeze again.

Gregor Blanco apparently missed a suicide squeeze sign in the eighth inning that hung out Buster Posey to dry in a tie game. But Blanco got all square in the 10th.

With runners at the corners, he laid down a perfect bunt down the first base line. Either it was a safety squeeze or Blanco made the decision on his own as the 3-1 pitch from Jonathan Papelbon screamed to the plate. Either way, Melky Cabrera scored without a play, and the Giants held on behind Santiago Casilla to take a 6-5 victory over the Philadelphia Phillies at Citizens Bank Park.

Blancos small-ball exploits were the end chapters in a game otherwise ruled by home runs. Matt Cain and Cole Hamels hit solo shots in the third inning, becoming the first starting pitchers to go deep off each other since Kevin Millwood and Denny Stark in 2002. No major league pitchers had homered off each other in the same inning since Kevin Gross and Fernando Valenzuela in 1990.

And it was the first time in Giants franchise history (since 1919, at least) that a Giants starting pitcher and opposing starter both homered in the same game. (The last time two pitchers went deep in a game involving the Giants, Mike Krukow homered off Eric Show at San Diego in 1988 and Padres reliever Mark Davis hit one out off Don Robinson in the eighth.)

Posey tagged a two-run shot in the third inning as part of a huge, four-hit night. But Cains 4-2 lead disappeared in the sixth when he served up a three-run shot to Ryan Howard.

Poseys fourth hit helped set up the rally in the 10th as the Giants clinched a winning road trip and won for the seventh time in eight games following the All-Star break. Theyre 12 over .500 for the first time this season.

Starting pitching report
Giants starting pitchers were 6-1 with a 1.30 ERA in seven games since the All-Star break. Cain couldnt continue that run of excellence while allowing five runs, although he only paid for three mistakes while throwing an economical 97 pitches over eight innings.

Chase Utley homered off him in the first inning and Hamels shot in the third was his first career homer in 420 at-bats. But Howards shot in the sixth was most damaging of all.

Cain issued a leadoff walk to Jimmy Rollins and gave up a hit to Shane Victorinothe 1000th of the Flyin Hawaiians careerbefore Howard mashed a 1-2 fastball. It was just Howards third hit in 19 career at-bats against Cainall of them home runs.

It was the first three-homer game against Cain since Oct. 1, 2010 against San Diego, when he took the mound in a failed bid to clinch the NL West.

Bullpen report
The Giants bullpen never seems to get hit against the Phillies. Javier Lopez retired Howard in the ninth and Sergio Romo lowered his bingo-number ERA to 0.64 after retiring Carlos Ruiz and Hunter Pence.

Casilla, who had blown five of his last eight save chances, pitched around a one-out walk to Placido Polanco to nail it down.

At the plate
Hamels took the mound perhaps a few days away from signing a contract that could be worth more than 130 million. So his agent couldnt have been happy that Phillies manager Charlie Manuel let him throw 128 pitches.

Hamels had to battle, all right. He mostly pitched through traffic while flashing his tremendous changeup, but Cain pelted his second home run of the season in the third inning. It was the sixth homer in the third inning and Posey added a two-run shot.

Posey added yet another two-out, RBI hit on this road tripa single in the fifth after Ryan Theriot walked and stole his way into scoring position.

Posey improved to 4 for 6 against Hamels with a home run, two doubles and five RBIs.

Melky Cabrera hit a tying, solo homer in the eighth but the Giants missed an opportunity to take the lead. Posey doubled and took third on a ground out. Posey ran with the 1-1 pitch to Gregor Blanco, who presumably missed a squeeze sign as he took it for a ball. Posey, hung out to dry, couldnt beat the throw back to third base.

Brandon Belt continued his abysmal month by popping up to strand the bases loaded in the eighth. Belt also popped up with one out and the bases loaded in the 10th to complete an 0-for-5 night.
In field
The Giants were all lined up for a big inning in the fifth when Nate Schierholtz hit a leadoff
double and Theriot walked. But Phillies second baseman Chase Utley made a diving catch of Cabreras line drive and then reached with his glove to tag second base to double off Schierholtz.

Attendance
The Phillies announced 45,809 paidsurprisingly, the largest regular-season crowd in Citizens Bank Park history.

Up next
The Giants try to make it a banner, 5-1 trip and go for a three-game sweep in Sundays series finale. Left-hander Barry Zito (8-6, 3.75) hopes to finish the trip the way he started it in Atlanta. Hell oppose right-hander Joe Blanton (8-8, 4.79), his former As teammate. The Giants haven't had a three-game sweep in Philadelphia since 2004 -- a series that included J.T. Snow's memorable three-homer game.