Pinch hitter Travis d'Arnaud drove in the game's only run with a 10th-inning sacrifice fly and the Atlanta Braves pulled out a 1-0 road win over the San Francisco Giants on Monday. The contest began with a brilliant pitchers' duel featuring left-handers Chris Sale of Atlanta and Blake Snell of San Francisco. d'Arnaud's sacrifice fly to deep right came after Sean Murphy had blooped a single to left off the fifth Giants pitcher, Taylor Rogers (1-4), to move automatic runner Orlando Arcia to third.
Raisel Iglesias (2-1), who threw a 1-2-3 ninth to force extra innings, retired the Giants in order with a runner at second in the bottom of the 10th to complete the shutout. With an eighth win in 12 extra-inning games this season, the Braves moved 2 1/2 games ahead of the Giants in the race for the final National League wild-card spot. San Francisco dropped its second straight game.
Sale and Snell set the tone for the low-scoring affair with double-digit strikeout performances in which neither got a decision. On the 10th anniversary of his only previous appearance in San Francisco, a game in which he threw eight shutout innings and recorded 12 strikeouts, Sale was a mirror image of his old self. He allowed just three hits and no walks in seven scoreless innings this time, once again striking out 12.
The Giants' best shot at Sale came in the first, when Atlanta center fielder Ramon Laureano misplayed Tyler Fitzgerald's inning-opening fly ball for a two-base error. Mark Canha followed w.