Kang homers in 8th to lift Pirates past Giants 4-3

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jung Ho Kang hit a tiebreaking home run in the eighth inning and the Pittsburgh Pirates beat San Francisco 4-3 on Tuesday night to knock the Giants out of first place in the NL West.

Andrew McCutchen had two hits while Gregory Blanco drove in two runs without a hit to help the Pirates remain one game behind the second NL wild card.

Kang homered off reliever Derek Law (4-2) one pitch after McCutchen was thrown out attempting to steal second base. It was Kang's 14th home run this season and third in four games.

San Francisco dropped one-half game behind the Dodgers in the West. Los Angeles beat Philadelphia earlier in the day.

The Giants, who had led the division since May 10, have the worst record in baseball since the All-Star break at 9-20.

Antonio Bastardo (1-0) retired three batters for his first win since Aug. 7, 2015. Neftali Feliz pitched the eighth and Tony Watson worked the ninth to earn his sixth save.

San Francisco had runners on second and third with one out in the ninth following an error by Pirates shortstop Jordy Mercer and Joe Panik's double. Watson got Ehire Adrianza to pop up to the infield before Angel Pagan grounded to second to end the game.

Giants starter Jeff Samardzija, who took a no-decision against the Pirates on June 22, allowed three runs over six innings. He struck out five and walked one.

Pittsburgh starter Jameson Taillon gave up three runs in six innings with five strikeouts and one walk.

TAILLON'S FIRST HIT

Taillon finally got his first major league hit but it didn't come easily after he had to hustle to beat the throw from right fielder Hunter Pence on a play that looked familiar to Pittsburgh fans. Taillon appeared to have a hit against Milwaukee on July 30 when he hit a liner to right but Brewers right fielder Kirk Nieuwenhuis was playing in and made a strong throw to first for the out.

TRAINER'S ROOM

Giants: C Buster Posey was back in the lineup after sitting out two games but doesn't look fully healed from the back soreness that sidelined him. Posey slowly jogged into second base in the first inning after hitting an RBI double into right-center field. ... San Francisco and 41-year-old right-hander Joe Nathan agreed to a minor league contract. Nathan, who has 377 career saves, will report to the Giants Double-A team in Richmond.

UP NEXT

Pirates: RHP Ivan Nova (2-0) faces the Giants for the third time in his career Wednesday but the first since being acquired from the Yankees.

Giants: RHP Matt Cain (4-7) pitches the finale for San Francisco. He has a career 3.04 ERA against Pittsburgh.