KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- The San Francisco Giants pushed the Panik button.

Joe Panik's two-out single in the 11th scored Nick Hundley as the San Francisco Giants defeated the Kansas City Royals 2-1 on Tuesday night.

Hundley doubled into the left-field corner with two out to set up Panik's game-winning hit off Scott Alexander (0-1) to right-center that Lorenzo Cain nearly caught.

"Right when I hit it, you could see the trajectory of the ball and where all the outfielders are," Panik said. "I could see a lot of green out there. Once I ran to first base I could see Lorenzo run it down.

"You basically have bad thoughts going through your head. Luckily the thing snuck down there. They cover a lot of ground out there. Fortunately that one caught some grass."

Panik had two hits and a walk to hike his average to .319.

"That's the type of player he is," interim manager and bench coach Ron Wotus said. "He's a baseball player. You get all the statistics today, the matchups, all the information you can look at. The guy plays baseball in the moment.

"He wants to be the guy. He's a good hitter. In big situations we've seen it from him a lot, in playoffs and World Series; he's that type of player."

Derek Law (1-0) worked two scoreless innings to pick up the victory. Mark Melancon worked the bottom of the inning for his third save in four opportunities. Melancon gave up two singles before striking out Raul Mondesi to end the game.

Mike Moustakas singled with one out in the Kansas City 10th and Paulo Orlando ran for him. Cain's sharp single moved Orlando to second base. Eric Hosmer, however, grounded into a double play to end the threat.

"I was certain we were going to find a way to punch a run across," Royals manager Ned Yost said. "We went 1-for-11 with runners in scoring position and the one was an infield hit. We just couldn't make it happen."

The Giants tied it at 1-1 in the sixth, which Panik led off with a single to right. Jason Hammel retired the next two batters before walking Brandon Belt. Hunter Pence's two-out single to right scored Panik. Belt tried to score from second on Buster Posey's single to the shallow center field grass, but Mondesi threw him out at the plate.

Hammel exited in the seventh after giving up a leadoff double to Brandon Crawford and a single to Eduardo Nunez. With runners on the corners and none out, Peter Moylan replaced Hammel and struck out Hundley.

Left-hander Travis Wood was summoned to face the left-handed hitting Panik. After Wood walked Panik on five pitches to load the bases, he struck out Chris Marrero looking and retired Denard Span on a grounder to Mondesi.

Giants starter Matt Cain was pulled after seven innings, giving up four hits, walking two and one run. He threw 58 strikes in 86 pitches.

"Nick (Hundley, catcher) and I did a good job of moving the ball in and out a bit, so they couldn't sit on the outside (pitches)," Cain said. "I think we did a good job of showing those guys the inside strikes to move them off."

Left-hander Ty Blach replaced Cain and threw only two strikes in nine pitches. He walked Whit Merrifield to lead off the inning and, after Mondesi's sacrifice bunt, Blach hit Alex Gordon with a pitch. Moustakas lined out to right on a 2-0 pitch.

George Kontos was summoned to face Cain and gave up an infield single to load the bases. In came left-hander Steven Okert to face Hosmer, who grounded out to Belt to leave the bases loaded.

Hammel held the Giants hitless for the first four innings -- 16 up and 16 down.

"It's the best of the three (starts) so far for myself," Hammel said. "Better fastball command, good use of the slider and I was able to execute down in the zone. I got some help from the defense, too."

Posey, who was just activated off the concussion list and was the designated hitter instead of catching, spoiled Hammel's no-hit bid with a line-drive single to center leading off the fifth.

Hammel stranded Posey at first, retiring the next three batters.

Merrifield, who was just promoted from Triple-A Omaha with a .412 batting average, homered with one out in the bottom of the fifth to give the Royals a 1-0 lead. Merrifield took a full-count Cain pitch out the opposite way, 386 feet into the Giants' bullpen.

It was Merrifield's first big league home run since June 15, a span of 219 at-bats.

The Royals had two hits, a walk and a stolen base in the first two innings off Cain, but came away empty.

NOTES: Giants manager Bruce Bochy underwent a minor heart ablation procedure in San Diego after having some discomfort due to an atrial flutter. Bochy will rejoin the club Friday in Colorado. Bench coach Ron Wotus will manage the club in Bochy's absence. ... The Royals recalled INF/OF Whit Merrifield and immediately started him in right field. He replaced RHP Jake Junis, who was optioned to Triple-A Omaha on Monday. ... The Giants activated C Buster Posey off the concussion disabled list and designated C Tim Federowicz for assignment. ... Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner and Royals LHP Jason Vargas are the probables for the Wednesday series finale.