Giants end losing streak with 13th-inning win against Mets

NEW YORK - The Giants arrived in the city that never sleeps and wasted little time trying to put that nickname to the test.

After being swept in Cincinnati over the weekend, there was no rest for the weary as the Giants needed 13 innings and a miraculous gift from the miserable Mets to earn a 2-1 win.

Chase d’Arnaud led off the top of the 13th inning with a single and advanced to third with no outs on the board, but a popout and a groundout left the Giants vulnerable to another disastrous situation.

That is, until the Mets bailed the Giants out.

With two outs, Brandon Crawford hit a flyball into shallow left field that should have ended the inning, but shortstop Amed Rosario backed into left fielder Dominic Smith in a collision that led to an error and ultimately the winning run.

Though a four-game losing skid dropped the Giants a season-high 8.0 games back in the National League West, they improved to .500 on their current road trip by outlasting the Mets in stunning fashion.

The beginning of a four-hour, 20-minute affair came with the Mets unintentionally taunting the Giants by starting their Opening Day center fielder Austin Jackson behind former top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler.

The Giants traded Jackson to the Rangers in July after he played his way out of the lineup, but the deal was essentially a way for the club to clear salary from its payroll as Texas had no interest in adding Jackson to its roster. After he was designated for assignment, Jackson caught on with the Mets and picked up nine extra base hits in his first 22 games, one more than he accumulated during 59 games with San Francisco.

In the top of the second, Jackson made a difficult tumbling catch to rob Brandon Belt of a hit and keep a leadoff runner from reaching base. An inning later, the Mets ran highlights on their scoreboard from Carlos Beltran’s career in New York.

Beltran was the player the Giants acquired in exchange for Wheeler back in 2011, and though the right-hander has battled injuries during his career in New York, Wheeler was the best player on the field for New York Monday.

Wheeler’s best moment came when the Giants’ offense hit one of its lowest points of the season in the fifth inning, immediately following back-to-back hits from Brandon Belt and Evan Longoria. With runners on second and third and no one out, the 7-8-9 hitters failed to put a ball in play and recorded three consecutive strikeouts.

Though the Giants don’t expect much from Holland at the plate, they needed Steven Duggar and Hanson to at least put a ball in play against a Mets defense that was positioned at regular depth and conceding a run. They failed to do so, and instead made mistakes that have become far too typical for the Giants of late.

After scoring just six runs in a three-game sweep at Great American Ballpark over the weekend, the Giants’ offense didn’t do much before the hits from Belt and Longoria, either. Following a first inning single from Buster Posey, Wheeler settled in and set down 10 in a row.

Wheeler finished with his first 10-strikeout performance since August 15, 2014, but he exited after seven innings with a no-decision.

Giants starter Derek Holland wasn’t quite as sharp as the Mets starter, but he allowed just five baserunners in five innings Monday. New York took a first inning lead after Wilmer Flores knocked in Amed Rosario with a double, but like Wheeler, Holland found his rhythm.

Though the first two batters in the sixth reached against Holland, reliever Sam Dyson kept the deficit to one run by inducing a double play on the first pitch of his outing.

Dyson was one of six relievers the Giants used Monday, including Derek Law who earned the win with two scoreless innings to finish out the game.