SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — On a night the slumping Giants broke out of their offensive funk and ended a four-game losing streak, second baseman Joe Panik was forced out with a groin strain and is likely headed to the disabled list.

Such is life for manager Bruce Bochy and his beleaguered ballclub this season.

Andrew McCutchen hit an RBI single to drive in Hunter Pence from second base in the seventh inning and the Giants beat the St. Louis Cardinals 3-2 on Friday night.

But San Francisco’s win was tempered by the loss of Panik, who was injured while running from first to third on Gorkys Hernandez’s double in the fourth.

Panik, a Gold Glove winner in 2016, missed 31 games this season with a sprained left thumb. His latest injury had Bochy and his staff scrambling to make roster moves after the game. Rookie Alen Hanson is the likely replacement until Panik returns.

Pence reached on a pinch-hit single off John Brebbia (1-2) leading off the seventh. After Hanson sacrificed Pence to second and Posey was intentionally walked, McCutchen pushed a 2-2 pitch into left field to drive in the go-ahead run.

Pablo Sandoval homered, Buster Posey singled twice and Brandon Crawford scored on a wild pitch to help the Giants’ slumping offense break out.

Reyes Moronta (5-1) retired one batter to earn the win. Will Smith pitched the ninth for his third save.

Kolton Wong had two hits and two RBIs for the Cardinals.

St. Louis was limited to five hits after setting a season-high with 18 on Friday.

DEJONG RETURNS

Cardinals shortstop Paul DeJong was activated from the disabled list after missing 45 games with a fracture in his left hand. DeJong had not missed a game this season before getting hurt.

“I was kind of anxious before the game just to get out there and start playing because I’ve been waiting for this moment for a while,” said DeJong, who went 1 for 3 with two runs scored.

UP NEXT

Cardinals RHP Carlos Martinez (5-4, 3.20 ERA) goes for his third consecutive win Saturday. Martinez pitched two-hit ball over nine innings, but left with a no-decision the last time he faced the Giants on May 20, 2017. RHP Jeff Samardzija (1-4, 6.56) will come off the disabled list to pitch for San Francisco in his first start since May 29.

Creston 6 , Atlantic 3
Atlantic 5, Carroll 3
AC/GC 9 , Orient-Macksburg 1
CB Thomas Jefferson 5, St. Albert 4
Denison-Schleswig 7 , Bellevue 0
Glenwood 7 , CB Abraham Lincoln 3
Harlan 14 , LeMars 9
Harlan 4 , LeMars 0
Martensdale-St. Marys 15 , Des Moines, Hoover 7
Martensdale-St. Marys 17 , Des Moines, Hoover 1 (4 Innings)

Class 1A

Region 6
Martensdale St. Marys 12, Moravia 5
Wayne 4, Lenox 1

Region 7
Glidden-Ralston 9, Grand View Christian 8 (10 innings)
Collins Maxwell 4, Coon Rapids-Bayard 0

Region 8
Akron-Westfield 6, Westwood 4
West Monona 1, Riverside 0

Class 2A

Region 2
Mount Ayr 1, Treynor 0
Logan-Magnolia 9, Underwood 4

Region 3
IKM-Manning 8, Panorama 1
Earlham 4, Ogden 1

Class 3A

Region 3
North Polk 5, Kuemper Catholic 1
Roland-Story 11, Saydel 2

Region 4
Atlantic 8, Creston 1
Clarke 6, Chariton 2

The Atlantic softball team picked up an 8-2 win over Creston on Friday night in a Class 3A Region 4 Semifinal. The Trojans used strong pitching and some hot hitting streaks to advance to a Regional Final for the third straight season.

Creston struck first with a lead-off single from Chloe Hagle that eventually scored, but the Trojans immediately responded. Atlantic ripped off 4 straight hits in the bottom of the first and brought home three runs to grab control of the lead and the game. Atlantic Head Coach Terry Hinzmann loved the way his team responded.

Ally Anderson was phenomenal in the circle allowing 2 runs on 6 hits with 11 strikeouts and 2 walks. After the game Ally said she felt better about her performance compared to the Tuesday win over Shenandoah.

Baylee Newell had a three run night as she led off the game with a single and sparked a two out rally in the fifth with a single. She was excited about the opportunity to play in the Regional Final on Monday.

Kaylee LeMasters took the loss for Creston allowing 6 earned runs on 7 hits with 4 strikeouts and 7 walks. Creston ends the season at 12-19.

Atlantic improved to 29-5 on the season and will next host Clarke of Osceola on Monday in the Class 3A Region 4 Final. Clarke won their Semifinal game 6-2 over Chariton. We’ll have coverage of that Regional Final on KJAN with pregame at 6:40pm and first pitch at 7:00pm on Monday.

DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — Drake University and its former head athletic trainer fired in 2016 after 31 years on the job have agreed to settle his wrongful termination lawsuit. KCCI reports that the university admits no wrongdoing in the settlement. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.

Scott Kerr filed the lawsuit after he says he was abruptly fired when a medical condition forced him to urinate in a dirty training room whirlpool. Kerr said he had been diagnosed with an enlarged prostate and another condition that caused him to urinate more frequently. Kerr said he urinated in the whirlpool because he didn’t have time to get to a bathroom. Kerr said he thoroughly cleaned the whirlpool tank afterward.

His lawsuit said he was fired because of his disability, age and gender.

Class 1A, 2A, and 3A Regional Semifinals are set to be played tonight. Here is a look at the schedule for area teams.

Class 1A

Region 6
Moravia @ Martensdale St. Marys 7:00pm
Wayne @ Lenox 7:00pm

Region 7
Glidden-Ralston @ Grand View Christian 5:30pm
Coon Rapids-Bayard @ Collins Maxwell 7:00pm

Region 8
Westwood @ Akron-Westfield 7:00pm
Riverside @ West Monona 7:00pm

Class 2A

Region 2
Mount Ayr @ Treynor 7:00pm
Underwood @ Logan-Magnolia 7:00pm

Region 3
Panorama @ IKM-Manning 7:00pm
Earlham @ Ogden 7:00pm

Class 3A

Region 3
Kuemper Catholic @ North Polk 7:00pm
Saydel @ Roland-Story 7:00pm

Region 4
Creston @ Atlantic – ON KJAN Pregame 6:40pm, First pitch 7:00pm
Chariton @ Clarke 7:00pm

SOFTBALL

Corner Conference Tournament

East Mills 9, Essex 5
Semifinal: Fremont-Mills 6, Stanton 5
Semifinal: Sidney 14, East Mills 3
Championship:  Sidney 16, Fremont-Mills 6

BASEBALL

Hawkeye Ten Conference

Anamosa 8, Denison-Schleswig 7
Harlan 8, Shenandoah 0
Kuemper Catholic 13, Perry 1
Lewis Central 7, Creston 2 (Game 1)
Lewis Central 8, Creston 6 (Game 2)
Red Oak 14, East Mills 7
St. Albert 11, Des Moines Christian 0

Western Iowa Conference

AHSTW 5, Sidney 4
IKM-Manning 5, Exira-EHK 4
Stanton 10, Griswold 0
Missouri Valley 6, West Harrison 5
Tri-Center 1, CAM 0
Independence 16, Treynor 6
Wahlert Catholic 4, Treynor 1

Rolling Valley Conference

Ar-We-Va 10, Whiting 2
Boyer Valley 11, Fremont-Mills 0
Glidden-Ralston 4 ACGC 1 (10 inn)
Ogden 3 Coon Rapids-Bayard 0
Panorama 3 Glidden-Ralston 2 (8 inn)

Other Scores

CB Abraham Lincoln 5, Sioux City North 4 (Game 1)
CB Abraham Lincoln 11, Sioux City North 8 (Game 2)
Mount Ayr 13, Orient-Macksburg 1
Nodaway Valley 10, Lenox 8
Sioux City West 10, CB Thomas Jefferson 0 (Game 1)
Sioux City West 14, CB Thomas Jefferson 4 (Game 2)

The 7:20-a.m. Sportscast with Jim Field.

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The executive director of the Iowa Bicycle Coalition has some issues with a survey out this week by A-D-T that showed five Iowa communities are in the top ten for the most dangerous to ride a bicycle. Webster City was ranked number three on the list behind New York City and Los Angeles. Mark Wyatt is with the Iowa Bicycle Coalition. “I think the results of this study are incomplete and inaccurate — but I don’t want to underemphasize that we have some work to do as far as making bicycling safer in this state,”Wyatt says.

Wyatt said the coalition is addressing the issue of bike safety. He says they have been working in the Iowa Legislature to get a safe passing distance bill approved and they have been working with the D-O-T to complete a state bike plan by this fall.  Wyatt says there are a lot of other efforts underway to improve the safety of bicyclists. “One city in Iowa — Hudson, Iowa — has adopted a local ordinance on safe passing and we’re working on more cities to join that city to upgrade their local ordinance,” according to Wyatt. “And then finally, as of July first we are launching a 20-thousand dollar media campaign addressing the safe passing of bicycles.”

Wyatt says the A-D-T study overlooks the work the coalition has been doing with other bike groups in making bike safety a key issues. “Unfortunately I don’t think the study from a home security company really reflected that amount of work that’s going on in the state,” Wyatt says. “Or the amount of fatal crashes in comparison to per capita rankings to say Florida and California, where it seems much more dangerous.” While he thinks the rankings aren’t accurate, Wyatt again says Iowa is by no means done when it comes to work to improve safety for bikers. “One death is too many in this state and we need to get to zero fatalities,” Wyatt says.

The other four Iowa communities listed among the most dangerous for bicyclists are Waterloo (7th) , Sioux City (8th), Johnston (9th) and Des Moines (10th).

(Radio Iowa)

CLASS 4A

Region 1

Lemars 9, Bishop Heelan 3
Storm Lake 6, Spencer 2

Region 2

Des Moines Hoover 5, Bondurant 2
Glenwood 2, Harlan 0

Region 3

Carroll 3, Perry 1
Boone 12, Webster City 2

Region 4

Dallas Center-Grimes 12, Knoxville 0
Pella 5, Grinnell 4

CLASS 5A

Region 1

Sioux City North 10, Sioux City West 0

Region 2

CB Thomas Jefferson 10, CB Abraham Lincoln 3