Major League Baseball

Giants 3, Pirates 2(10)

Published Apr. 27, 2011 5:46 a.m. ET

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As soon as Neil Walker turned his head to make the throw to first, Darren Ford took off.

Ford let his instincts take over - and when you have speed like Ford's, of course your instincts will tell you to run.

Ford scored from third on a grounder hit to the second baseman in a drawn-in infield in the 10th inning, 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.

''I didn't go at first,'' Ford said of the ball hit by Freddy Sanchez off of Joel Hanrahan with one out. ''Not at first, but he just glanced at me. He didn't stop me as an infielder - he didn't stop me; he just glanced at me. And once he just glanced at me and then lobbed it over to first, I just took off and let my God-given talent just take over.''

The speedy Ford advanced to third base, when he went from first to third on an errant pickoff throw by Hanrahan (0-1).

Ford scored the tying run after entering the game as a pinch runner in the eighth.

''There's no fear in him; he's not afraid to make a mistake, and that's what you love about him,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

''I tell you what, that was one of the most impressive displays of speed I've seen on a baseball field,'' Bochy added, referring to the 10th inning run.

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 found his way around the bases anyway.

First baseman Lyle Overbay's throw home was errant on the scoring play, but the official scorer did not charge an error on the play because it appeared Ford's speed was going to make him safe anyway.

''I saw him, and he was stopped,'' Walker said. ''I made the play to first - I probably could have thrown the ball a little firmer, but that guy can run.''

In the eighth, Ford went from first to third on a hit-and-run play with Sanchez up that turned into a single because the shortstop moved to cover second base. 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 ninth.

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

After the game, he talked more about Ford's play than his own pitching.

''A little one-hopper to second, basically you just figure you've run out of luck right there,'' Cain said. ''He saw Walker kind of lobbed it to first and trusted his speed, and it ended up being the game-changer.''

Cain's 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 the second, 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.

''Tonight I feel like I did a decent job, but I definitely could have put them away in the seventh today if I was just aggressive and made some pitches,'' Morton said. ''But that's a good team, and they do what they do.''

Chris Resop came on and got Cody Ross and Tejada to pop out to first baseman Overbay in foul territory, and he struck out pinch-hitter Mike Fontenot in an 11-pitch at-bat.

But the bullpen wasn't as good the following inning. Evan Meek allowed consecutive singles to start. After Joe Beimel got Aubrey Huff to pop out with runners at first and third, Posey lifted the sacrifice fly to left off of Jose Veras to score Ford.

Notes: Giants LHP Barry Zito will see foot specialist Dr. Robert Anderson in Charlotte, N.C., on Wednesday. Zito, who sustained a mid-foot sprain April 16, had a cast removed from his right foot Sunday. ... The Pirates claimed OF Xavier Paul off waivers from the Los Angeles Dodgers on Tuesday but did not join the team yet.

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