MIAMI — Gregor Blanco struck out swinging to end the game, leaving two runners on base in the San Francisco Giants’ 5-3 loss to the Miami Marlins.

That’s about the only thing that went wrong Saturday for Blanco, who recorded his second straight three-hit performance.

“I feel really good,” Blanco said. “I’ve been working on hitting more balls on the ground and it’s been great. I’m more confident. This game is all about opportunities and I know I can do good things.”

Blanco is 8-for-14 in the series with two doubles, four runs scored and an RBI. He’s hitting .325 (25-of-77) in May.

“All you need to do is prepare and try to maintain every single game,” Blanco said.

Blanco had three of San Francisco’s nine hits as Miami starter Mark Buehrle pitched into the eighth inning.

Giancarlo Stanton hit two doubles and scored twice while Logan Morrison drove in two runs for the Marlins, who moved within a victory of tying the team record for the most in a month. Miami is a major league-best 18-7 in May. The Marlins went 19-10 in August 1997.

“It’s outstanding, we’re playing some good ball,” Buehrle said. “Everything is coming together at the same time. Hopefully we can keep it going into the next month and the couple of days we have left in this month.”

Buehrle (5-4) allowed two runs and eight hits while throwing 69 of 100 pitches for strikes. He was replaced by Steve Cishek after Ryan Theriot tripled to center past a diving Chris Coghlan with one out in the eighth. Cishek retired Melky Cabrera on a ground out, which scored Theriot. Buster Posey grounded out to end the inning.

Heath Bell, who was pulled in the ninth during Friday’s game in favor of Cishek as Bell allowed two runs and retired just one batter, continued his struggles. Bell allowed a single to Angel Pagan to open the ninth and after recording an out, he walked the next two batters, ending his night early again.

“As a manager, the last thing you want to do is take your closer out every day,” said Marlins manager Ozzie Guillen. “That’s a very hard feeling and tough situation. We give him every opportunity we can to come out of this once again and he can’t get it done.”

Bell signed a three-year $27-million contract in the offseason, but has struggled to deliver. He is 2-3 with an 8.47 ERA and four blown saves in 11 chances.

Randy Choate relieved Bell and got Nate Schierholtz to fly out scoring Pagan cutting the deficit to 5-3. He struck out Gregor Blanco to end the game. It was Choate’s first save since Sept. 23, 2009, when he was with Tampa Bay.

“Two of my hits to lefties this year was to (Blanco), so I was a little pumped that I finally got him out,” Choate said. “I tried treating it like any other appearance. Obviously there is way more adrenaline going because the crowd is going nuts and the bases are loaded, but I tried to take it as, get the lefties out and get out of the game.”

Madison Bumgarner (5-4) took the loss allowing five runs and seven hits in six innings. He struck out seven and walked two.

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