Junior Raoul Torrez may not always have the prettiest at-bats, but he seemingly always comes through when the Sun Devils need him most.

Behind a go-ahead single from Torrez, the No. 2 ASU baseball team (31-9, 15-3 Pac-10) defeated Cal 6-5 on Sunday to take the series 2-1.

The Sun Devils have won all six of their Pac-10 series this year and won both of their games by two runs or less this weekend.

“You’ve got to gut it out on Sunday when you are on the road against a good team,” ASU coach Pat Murphy said during his postgame radio interview. “Cal is very capable and with nothing to lose at this point.”

In the first inning, sophomore Matt Newman hit a sacrifice fly to drive in freshman Drew Maggi, and freshman Zack MacPhee drove in another with a single.

With the game tied at three in the top of the seventh inning, sophomore Andy Workman reached on a walk and advanced to second on a balk before Torrez singled him home to give ASU a 4-3 lead.

Torrez, like Ricky Henderson circa 1983, stole second and third base on consecutive pitches before coming home on a Maggi single.

Freshman Riccio Torrez then drove in Newman with a double to make it 6-3 on what would prove to be the game-winning RBI.

The Sun Devils used five-and-a-third innings from sophomore Seth Blair, who struck out nine batters while allowing only three runs against a potent Cal lineup.

Freshman Mitchell Lambson pitched from the middle of the sixth into the bottom of the eighth, allowing two runs.

Freshman Jordan Swagerty, who shut down Hawaii as a starter, came on with the tying runner at third base and only one out.

Swagerty proceeded to force two of Cal’s best bats to pop out and ground out en route to a 1-2-3 ninth to earn his fourth save of the year.

“[Swagerty] has got a certain competitiveness that is second to none,” Murphy said.

The Sun Devils won the opening game of the series 3-1 behind a complete game from junior Mike Leake, but lost on Saturday 10-6 with junior Josh Spence, perhaps still bothered with a swollen hand, allowing six runs in three and a third innings. The Sun Devils had opened a 5-1 lead on Saturday.

“We didn’t play great this series but we found a way,” Murphy said.

Reach the reporter at nick.ruland@asu.edu.