As the Giants offense pounded the Pirates on Friday, manager Clint Hurdle turned to reliever Chris Resop to stop the onslaught.
He delivered.
Resop used 22 pitches to retire seven batters, striking out three without allowing a hit.
Though he struggled in similar situations earlier this season, Resop has been pitching well of late.
In his past six outings, Resop has allowed one earned run over 92/3 innings. He has surrendered three hits while striking out seven.
"Chris has bundled a very good load of games here," Hurdle said. "It's very good to see. ... He could really help us in the second half."
Resop said he has not changed anything to help lead to his recent success. He just feels more confident.
"When you string together some good outings, you build off that," he said.
"You build confidence off that. Mentally, you think your stuff's better, but it's still the same."
Having confidence, or lacking it, can yield different results for the same pitcher, Resop said.
"Throwing pitches in particular counts and at-bats, and you have confidence you're going to win vs. not being confident, they're two different pitches," Resop said.
In two seasons with the Pirates, Resop has pitched in a variety of scenarios -- in late innings, with the bases loaded, over a number of innings.
"It could be one inning, it could be two, it could be three," he said. "I never know. I go out there and I'm after that one hitter. If I get him out, I'm on to the next hitter. I'll just keep doing that until they tell me I'm done."
Alex Presley passed his baseline tests Saturday and felt well enough to increase his physical activity, the next step in his recovery from a mild concussion he sustained Tuesday.
"It's improved," Presley said. "When I moved around a bunch early on, it bothered me. Walking, getting up too fast. It got better every day. ... I expected it to get better fairly quickly, which has happened."
Presley was injured while diving for a fly ball in left field. He stayed in the game for four innings before telling the trainers he did not feel right.
"I just felt real spaced out," he said. "I felt tired, my eyes felt tired. I wasn't dizzy, but I felt I just couldn't concentrate really well."
The Pirates recalled infielder Matt Hague from Class AAA Indianapolis and optioned catcher Eric Fryer before the game Saturday.
Fryer joined the roster to give the Pirates catching depth with Rod Barajas dealing with a bone bruise to his left knee. But with the All-Star break approaching -- and with Barajas' improving health -- the need for depth dissipated.
Fryer went 1 for 3 in pinch-hitting situations and was used in just one defensive alignment, and that was as a left fielder.
Hague hit .285 in 44 games with Indianapolis, and entering Saturday was hitting .235 in 28 games with the Pirates.
Pedro Alvarez's 457-foot home run in the eighth inning of the Pirates' 6-5 loss Friday is the longest home run hit at PNC Park this season. It is also tied for the eighth longest at PNC Park by a Pirates player, but was only 6 feet from being the longest.
Matt Lawton's 463-foot blast against the Colorado Rockies on May 20, 2005, is the longest by a Pirates player.
Sammy Sosa holds the PNC Park record with a 484-foot home run he hit as a member of the Chicago Cubs against Dave Williams on April 12, 2002.
First Published: July 8, 2012, 4:00 a.m.
