DENVER, Sept. 18 (UPI) -- A triple by September call-up Brett Pill gave San Francisco the lead in the eighth inning Saturday and the Giants stayed hot by downing Colorado 6-5.
San Francisco built a three-run advantage with a four-run eighth, then survived a scary ninth to win its seventh in a row.
The defending World Series champion Giants moved within five games of division-leading Arizona in the National League West. Both San Francisco and Arizona have 10 games remaining, three of which will be played against each other next weekend in Phoenix.
The Giants faced a 3-2 deficit heading into the eighth, but rallied against Colorado closer Huston Street (1-4).
Andres Torres singled to open the inning and Street then hurt his own cause when he threw wildly to first base on a grounder off the bat of Jeff Keppinger.
Emmanuel Burriss ran for Keppinger and Carlos Beltran doubled to right to bring in Torres with the tying run. That brought up Pill, who was playing in his fifth major league game. His triple to center scored Burriss and Beltran and Pill came in later in the inning on a fielder's choice grounder by Aubrey Huff.
Santiago Casilla came on in the ninth to protect the 6-3 lead, but he put two men on and then gave up an RBI double to Mark Ellis and a run-scoring ground out to Wilin Rosario.
With the bases now empty, Casilla got Hector Gomez on a swinging third strike to earn his fifth save.
Waldis Joaquin (1-0), who recorded the final two outs in the seventh inning, got his first major league win. It was his 16th relief appearance scattered over three seasons.
