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Giants score 3-2 win in 12th off Brandon League

Giants center fielder Angel Pagan scores a game-tying run on an RBI double by Brandon Belt in the bottom of the ninth inning. San Francisco defeated the Dodgers, 3-2, in 12 innings.
Giants center fielder Angel Pagan scores a game-tying run on an RBI double by Brandon Belt in the bottom of the ninth inning. San Francisco defeated the Dodgers, 3-2, in 12 innings.
(Thearon W. Henderson / Getty Images)
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Maybe it just had to be a taxing loss.

In a game that took nearly five hours, went 12 innings and used 15 pitchers, the Giants kept wasting scoring opportunities until they finally found their way to Dodgers reliever Brandon League.

Then they finally won it when light-hitting backup catcher Hector Sanchez singled in the winning run for a 3-2 victory at AT&T Park.

Brandon Crawford started the rally with a one-out single. Brandon Hicks hit a bouncer off the glove of Juan Uribe -- who otherwise was having a brilliant night -- but shortstop Hanley Ramirez was able to get to the ball to at least throw out Hicks.

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League, looking a lot like a struggling pitcher who hasn’t thrown much, then threw a wild pitch to advance Crawford to third before Sanchez singled up the middle.

The victory went to Yusmeiro Petit, the Giants’ final pitcher.

The Giants left the bases loaded without scoring in the fourth, fifth and 10th innings, before finally pushing across the winning run in the 12th.

Uribe gave the Dodgers the early lead when he drilled a solo home run off Tim Lincecum in the second inning. Lincecum started the night with a 9.90 ERA after his first two starts, but Uribe’s homer was the only run the Dodgers could manage againist him in his five innings.

Josh Beckett started for the Dodgers and also went five innings. They were scoreless -- the first three a thing of beauty, the last two not so much.

The Giants loaded the bases in the fourth with one out on a single and a pair of walks, but Beckett got out of it by striking out Michael Morse and then was helped out when Uribe made a nice stop on a Crawford grounder into the hole to throw him out.

Leading 1-0 in the fifth, Beckett walked the bases loaded with two outs. He was clearly tiring, but Manager Don Mattingly elected to let Beckett stay in to pitch to Buster Posey with the bases loaded. Posey flied out to Andre Ethier in center.

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Beckett, who surrendered five runs in the four innings of his first start, allowed only two hits in his five innings Tuesday, but walked five. He struck out four.

Chris Withrow took over for the Dodgers in the sixth. Prior to the game when the Dodgers activated Brian Wilson from the disabled list, they elected to keep Withrow on the roster, not waive League and send down Paco Rodriguez.

For one night, not a move that paid off.

Withrow quickly got in trouble. Hunter Pence welcomed him with a single and Ramirez was charged with a throwing error on a Morse grounder. Pence took third on a Withrow wild pitch and then scored to tie it on a Brandon Crawford sacrifice fly. It was the first run Withrow has allowed this season.

But Uribe continued to hit the ball hard, leading off the seventh with a double into the left-field corner. Tim Federowicz put down a sacrifice bunt and pinch-hitter Justin Turner bounced a single up the middle off reliever Javier Lopez to score Uribe.

The Giants also threatened in the eighth, putting runners at first and second with no outs. But Chris Perez struck out Crawford and Uribe made an excellent stop of a hard-hit ball by Hicks, turning it into a inning-ending double play.

The Giants finally pushed another run across against closer Kenley Jansen with two outs in the ninth. Angel Pagan beat out a one-out infield hit that ricocheted off the leg of Jansen. Brandon Belt doubled and Pagan was able to score from first to tie it and send it into extra innings.

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