New York Mets vs San Francisco Giants Box Score on Aug 31, 2018

Left-hander Andrew Suarez pitched seven shutout innings, allowing only two hits, and Aramis Garcia triggered a six-run eighth inning with a home run in his major league debut Friday night, delivering the San Francisco Giants a 7-0 victory over the visiting New York Mets to open a three-game series.

A fifth win in six games got the Giants (68-68) back to the .500 mark and kept their slim hopes alive in both the National League West and NL wild-card races.

Suarez (6-9) and Zack Wheeler (9-7) were locked in a scoreless deadlock before the Giants got a sacrifice fly from Chris Shaw, also making his major league debut, in the seventh to go up 1-0.

Garcia, promoted from the minors when Buster Posey underwent hip surgery earlier in the week, then hit reliever Robert Gsellman's fourth pitch of the eighth inning for a home run, his first big-league hit.

The Giants put the game away against the New York bullpen by adding five more runs in the inning, a flurry that included a two-run triple by Brandon Belt.

Suarez, who had been bombed for 18 runs in his first four August starts, pitched scoreless ball for the second consecutive game.

He allowed a one-out double to Jeff McNeil in the first inning, then got into trouble in the seventh in a scoreless game when he hit McNeil and gave up a single to Austin Jackson with no outs.

Wilmer Flores' fly ball advanced McNeil to third before Suarez induced Jay Bruce into grounding into a double play, retaining the 0-0 score.

Suarez was pulled at inning's end. He struck out five and did not issue a walk.

The Giants then finally got to Wheeler in the bottom of the inning when Belt doubled, took third on Austin Slater's ground ball and scored on Shaw's one-out fly ball.

Shaw was promoted from Triple-A Sacramento earlier in the day when the Giants dealt Andrew McCutchen to the New York Yankees for two prospects.

Wheeler, a former Giants first-round pick, left for a pinch hitter after seven innings, having limited San Francisco to one run on four hits. He struck out nine and did not walk a batter.

Slater, Gorkys Hernandez and Garcia, batting for the second time in the inning, added RBI singles for the Giants in the eighth.

Garcia finished with two hits and two RBIs in his debut, while Shaw went 0-for-2 with an RBI.

Belt and Slater also collected a pair of hits for the Giants, who improved to 5-2 on their nine-game homestand.

The Mets were held to three hits, including doubles by McNeil and Brandon Nimmo.

--Field Level Media