Pablo Sandoval tripled in the sixth inning to complete the first cycle of his career and the San Francisco Giants beat the Colorado Rockies 8-5 on Thursday night to keep their slim postseason hopes alive.
Ryan Vogelsong pitched effectively into the sixth inning and had two hits, and Brandon Belt homered for San Francisco. The Giants have won five straight and prevented Arizona from moving closer to clinching the NL West. The Diamondbacks lead the Giants by seven games with 12 to play.
Sandoval homered in the first, doubled in the second and singled in the fifth. In the sixth he hit a fly ball to the base of the wall in right-center field and beat the throw to third for the triple to complete the cycle.
The four hits all came against starter Jhoulys Chacin (11-12).
