Mark Canha beat his old team with a walk-off sacrifice fly in the ninth inning as the San Francisco Giants, held hitless for six innings, rallied for a 3-2 victory over the visiting Detroit Tigers on Friday night.
After scoring single runs in the seventh and eighth to draw even, the Giants got a gift in the ninth when second baseman Colt Keith misplayed Heliot Ramos’ leadoff grounder before Jason Foley (3-4) walked Michael Conforto and hit Matt Chapman in the head.
Shelby Miller came on to get Mike Yastrzemski to ground into a force play at the plate for a first out and got ahead 0-2 on Canha before the veteran ran the count to 2-2, then drilled a deep fly to left to send Michael Conforto home with the game-winner.
Canha had been acquired by the Giants from the Tigers last Tuesday for minor league pitcher Eric Silva.
Tyler Rogers (2-4), who pitched a 1-2-3 top of the ninth, was credited with the win in the Giants’ 10th walk-off victory of the season.
Having been no-hit by Beau Briske and Kenta Maeda for three innings apiece, the Giants rallied into a 2-2 tie on a pair of sacrifice flies, one by Conforto in the seventh and the other by Patrick Bailey in the eighth.
The Tigers also scored one run at a time and without the benefit of a run-producing hit in the second and fifth. Ryan Vilade opened the scoring with a sacrifice fly, before Javier Baez made it 2-0 when he raced home on a throwing error by Giants catcher Curt Casali.
Both Detroit runs came off Giants starter Robbie Ray, who allowed five hits and three walks in six innings. He struck out seven.
Briske pitched the first three innings for the Tigers, facing 10 batters and allowing just one baserunner on a first-inning walk to Ramos. He struck out five.
Maeda had retired the first nine men he faced until Tyler Fitzgerald awakened the Giants’ offense with a leadoff single in the seventh.
Coming off a 5-2 trip, the Giants were able to open their seven-game homestand with a win despite getting just four hits, none for extra bases.
Keith had a pair of singles for the Tigers, who suffered their second consecutive walk-off loss.