SAN FRANCISCO — Twenty-four hours removed from a thoroughly heartbreaking loss in which they botched two pop-ups in the ninth, tossed four wild pitches and wasted a solid start by Zach Duke, the Pirates displayed their remarkable resilience Friday night with a fundamentally sound 3-2 win against the San Francisco Giants. Perhaps such an outcome should have come as no surprise. “We’ve had tough losses this season and bounced back,” outfielder Jason Bay said. Most notably, the Pirates dropped a seemingly crushing defeat to the Houston Astros at PNC Park on May 28 — a game in which they wasted Oliver Perez’s gem and blew a four-run ninth-inning lead. The Pirates responded by sweeping their first series of the season, taking four consecutive games from the Milwaukee Brewers. Last night, they shook off another shaky outing by closer Mike Gonzalez, who loaded the bases with two outs before recording his ninth save on a strikeout of San Francisco catcher Eliezer Alfonzo. For the second consecutive game and the third time on this seven-game road trip, the Pirates scored in the first inning. Nate McLouth, mired in a 4-for-27 slump, dropped a single into right field. He stole second cleanly and advanced to third on a throwing error by Alfonzo. Sean Casey laced a double into left that scored McLouth for the Pirates’ first run. Casey began last night with a .447 average at the Giants’ ballpark — the highest such mark among active players. Casey finished 4 for 4, raising his batting average on the season to .338. He is hitting .595 over his past eight games in San Francisco. The Upper St. Clair-raised first baseman wasn’t the only Pirate to hold a piece of San Francisco in his heart. Starting pitcher Victor Santos, who entered last night’s contest having allowed only four earned runs over his past 18 innings, had posted a 1.93 ERA at AT&T Park in two previous appearances. On April 22, 2005, while with the Milwaukee Brewers, Santos tossed his lone major-league complete game against the Giants at the house that Barry Bonds built. Bonds, by the way, once again did not play against his former franchise — missing his third consecutive game due to a sore left side. Had Bonds played, he might not have proven much of a match for Santos, who was magnificent over seven innings. Santos, whose ERA is 4.50 (down from 5.69 on May 18), allowed just two earned runs on four hits. He walked just one Giants batter and struck out three. San Francisco took the lead in the third by scoring twice off Santos. Alfonzo made up for his miscue with a triple off the right-field wall to score Jose Vizcaino from first. Alfonzo scored the Giants’ second run on a sacrifice fly by Randy Winn. Despite his many claims to the contrary, Bay continued to carve out a reputation as a home-run hitter with his line-drive shot over the fence in center — Bay’s 19th homer of the season. Casey, who had singled to open the fourth, scored on Bay’s homer to give the Pirates a 3-2 lead. In 334 games with the Pirates, Bay has already hit 77 home runs. He has averaged a homer every 16 at-bats during his tenure in Pittsburgh. Bat recorded his fifth defensive assist of the season in the sixth on a two-out single by Moises Alou. San Francisco’s Omar Vizquel was waived home on the hit. Bay connected with Jack Wilson, who rifled a relay toss to Freddy Sanchez at third base. Sanchez chased down Vizquel as he headed for home plate to end the Giants’ threat. The Pirates improved to 6-18 in one-run games. They are now 2-13 on the road in such contests.

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