Giantsblog

The Giants and D-backs traded runs and the lead several times in the third and final game of the series. In the end, the Giants came back to win 4-3, tying the game in the eighth inning and getting the go-ahead run in the ninth.
Barry Zito kept the game close and gave his team a chance to win, leaving after six innings, down 2-3. He struck out five, but rightfielder Justin Upton got on his nerves, hitting a solo homer in the second to give Arizona the early lead, and then a triple in the fourth to drive in another run. Zito gave up six hits overall, and walked three more D-backs batters. The bullpen kept the Giants in the game, Jack Taschner pitched the seventh inning, allowing just one hit, and Tyler Walker did the same in the eighth. After taking the lead in the top of the ninth inning, closer Brian Wilson earned his sixteenth save of the season with a perfect ninth inning performance.
Giants rightfielder Randy Winn was tonight’s hero, going three-for-five out of the leadoff spot, with two solo shots and a single. His first homer put the Giants on the board as he led off the fourth inning against Randy Johnson, the second homer was more dramatic, coming in the top of the ninth to put the Giants ahead, once again leading off the inning. Winn also recorded a stolen base off Johnson and D-backs catcher Miguel Montero. Bengie Molina finally had his first hitless game in a while, but reached base on a walk in the eighth inning. Arizona reliever Tony Pena loaded the bases before allowing the game-tying run to score by walking pinch-hitter Fred Lewis. Centerfielder Aaron Rowand also scored a run while going two-for-four with a single and a double.
San Francisco retuns home Friday to begin a weekend series against the Padres. Matt Cain will face Greg Maddux in game one at 7:15 p.m. Coming off a sweep of one of the best teams in the league, the Giants should have the momentum and morale to put together some wins during their next homestand.

The Giants dominated Arizona in an unusual way in the second game of the series, with their bats. An offensive effort that included just one homerun had Giants hitters taking advantage of scoring opportunities, and easily defeated the D-backs 11-3.
Jonathan Sanchez did not need to pitch well on Wednesday with all the runs his offense put up for him, but he did anyway. He gave two runs on six hits through six innings of work while striking out six batters. Jack Taschner pitched a scoreless seventh inning, allowing just one hit and getting one strikeout. Vinnie Chulk took over in the eighth inning, allowing a two-out solo homer to D-backs third baseman Mark Reynolds. He faced and retired one more batter in the ninth inning before giving the ball to Alex Hinshaw. Hinshaw took care of both hitters he was brought in to face to end the game.
Eleven runs scored is the new season high for the Giants. San Francisco got on the board first in the second inning thanks to a solo shot by Ray Durham. They added another run in the third inning. The fifth and sixth innings were big, the Giants produced two back-to-back four-run innings, and added another “insurance” run in the seventh, the game was already out of had with an 11-2 score. Despite going one-for-three, the leadoff man, Fred Lewis scored three runs, reaching base on a single and three walks. Third baseman Jose Castillo was three-for-six with a double and two singles, he scored one run. Bengie Molina has been seeing the ball well these last two weeks, raising his overall average to .339 after tonight’s three-for-four performance. He drove in two runs and scored two himself with a double and two singles, he also reached base once via the walk. Aaron Rowand also drove in two and scored two runs, going two-for-three, both hits were singles. In addition to his homerun that started the scoring, Durham also hit a bases-loaded double that scored three runs. Today was a day the Giants could confidently say “Who needs Barry Bonds?!”
The final game of the series is set for 6:40 p.m. Barry Zito will look to build on his first successful outing of the season and lead the Giants to a sweep. D-backs veteran Randy Johnson will attempt to salvage a win for Arizona. Hopefully tonight’s offense will continue to swing hot sticks against the intimidating lefty.

After losing both games of a doubleheader on Sunday, the Giants rebounded with a 6-3 win at Arizona. Another quality start by Tim Lincecum and homeruns by catcher Bengie Molina and third baseman Jose Castillo helped the Giants hang on and get a win against the National League’s record leader.
Every fifth day Lincecum goes out and proves to be the future ace (if you can still call Barry Zito the ace of the rotation) of the Giants organization. Last night he threw seven and a third innings, giving up three runs on six hits, and striking out seven D-backs hitters. He is now 7-1 this season with a 2.33 earned run average. Lincecum only allowed one hit in six runners in scoring position situations, that hit scored one run in the fifth inning. He got into trouble in the eighthinning, handing the game over to reliever Tylker Walker. Working in relief, Walker finished off the eighth inning, giving up and hit and striking out one of the two outs he was brought in to get. Brian Wilson, who gave up the walkoff win in Florida on Sunday pitched a perfect ninth inning with a strike out to finalize the win.
The Giants gave Lincecum a solid lead to work with when Molina gave them a three-run homer in the third. They continued to add on more runs, another in the fourth on a Jose Castillo solo shot to centerfield that still has not landed, and one more in the fifth on a Ray Durham double. That gave Lincecum a 5-0 lead to pitch comfortably with. In addition to the homerun, Castillo also hit a double. Aaron Rowand drove in the sixth Giants run in the seventh inning with a single. Molina was last week’s National League Player of the Week, and looks to be making a strong case to be re-elected this week. He has seventeen hits in his last twenty-five at-bats.
D-backs pitcher Doug Davis will face Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez in the second game of the series at 6:40 p.m. Winning the series against a good team like Arizona on the road could be all the Giants need to get on a roll. Right now the team is being carried by Lincecum and Molina, but everyone needs to start contributing.

The second game of the doubleheader was a heartbreaker, the Giants lost both games, losing the second 5-4. For the Marlins, it was a walk-off win in nine innings. This game was also set a milestone for Omar Vizquel, playing more games at shortstop than any Major Leaguer, 2,584, the previous record was held by Luis Aparicio.
Matt Cain did not have a bad day, but did get burned by the Marlins early in the game. He allowed a solo shot to Jorge Cantu in the first inning before giving up another run in the second. He did settle down though, finishing the day with six innings pitched, and six strikeouts. Keiichi Yabu was charged with two earned runs in the seventh inning, allowing Florida to tie the game at four. Jack Taschner attempted to bail Yabu out of the inning, but walked the one hitter he came into face. Tyler Walker was brought in to try to do what Taschner could not, but before ending the inning, the Marlins were able to score the tying run. Walker stayed in to pitch a scoreless eighth inning. Closer Brian Wilson was summoned in the ninth inning to keep the game tied after Walker allowed the leadoff batter to get on with a double, representing the winning run. Wilson struck out the next batter, and got the next hitter to fly out. He then loaded the bases on walks before surrendering the game winning hit to Dan Uggla’s bat.
Bengie Molina continued to have an impressive day, going two-for-three with a sacrifice fly. He hit a single and double, driving in half of San Francisco’s runs in the game. Once again, the Giants jumped out to an early lead, scoring a run in the first inning, but could have had more with a bases loaded threat. They added another run in the third inning before taking the lead with a two-run fifth inning. The Florida bullpen then took over, shutting down Giants batters for the final four innings of the game.
The Giants will have Monday off, but will travel to Arizona to take on the D-backs on Tuesday. Tim Lincecum will start the first game of the series against Dan Haren at 6:40 p.m. The Giants are now 20-31 on the season, ten and a half games back of the division leading D-backs. Their record in one-run games is now 11-12.

The Giants dropped the first game of Sunday’s doubleheader against the Marlins 8-6. The teams traded runs throughout most of the game, but Florida came out on top. Pat Misch is still looking for his first Major League win, he had control issues and trouble with the longball.
Misch lasted just four and a third innings against Florida’s hitters, he managed to strikeout four of them, but also walked the same amount. He gave up three homeruns in his short outing, allowing a total of seven earned runs, raising his ERA to 6.54. The bullpen did a good job limiting the damage, but did let the Marlins add another insurance run in the seventh inning. Vinnie Chulk took over for Misch, and allowed just one hit in one and two-thirds innings. Billy Sadler pitched the seventh and gave up a solo homer to Cody Ross. Alex Hinshaw pitched the eighth inning, and struck out all three Marlins he faced, his ERA is still 0.00 after pitching three and two thirds innings so far this season. In total, the Giants pitching staff struck out twelve batters.
After the Marlins jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead in the first, the Giants responded with a two-run homer from centerfielder Aaron Rowand. They then added on three more runs when Bengie Molina doubled in two runs, and then Rowand drove in Molina with a single. Molina had a perfect day at the plate, going four-for-four with a single, three doubles, and three runs batted in, he also scored two runs; he is now batting an impressive .321 on the season. Rookie infielder Travis Denker recorded his first Major League hit, a double in the fourth inning. Jose Castillo and Randy Winn both went two-for-five; Castillo hit two singles, and Winn a single and a double. Overall, the Giants outhit Florida twelve to ten, but the Marlins hits came at opportune times with men on base.

Rain in Miami postponed the second game of the Giants-Marlins series. A doubleheader is scheduled for Sunday. Tomorrow’s game was set to start at 4:10 p.m., with Pat Misch pitching against Mark Hendrickson, but with tonight’s postponement Giants manager Bruce Bochy may be able to juggle the matchups. Either way, the Giants will face Marlins starters Burke Badenhop and Hendrickson at some point tomorrow. Matt Cain will start one of the two games for San Francisco. The second game of the doubleheader will start an hour after the end of the first game.

After starting the season 0-8, Barry Zito finally earned his first victory with an 8-2 win over the Marlins. Several Giants hitters also showed off their power, hitting three homeruns against Florida’s pitching staff. San Francisco now has a three-game winning streak going, after bad homestand.
A first inning run suggested Zito would pitch like he had been this season, but he overcame it and retired thirteen of the next fifteen hitters he faced. He got the monkey off his back, and hopefully he’ll be able to earn some wins more frequently now. Overall, in six and a third innings pitched, he allowed that one first inning run on three hits, and four walks. On the other hand, he did manage to strike out five Marlins batters. Keiichi Yabu finished off the seventh inning, and Jack Taschner pitched a perfect eighth inning. Vinnie Chulk allowed one hit in the ninth inning, a solo homer to Florida’s second baseman, Dan Uggla, but by then the Giants had a comfortable lead and had nothing to worry about.
Giants hitters jumped all over Florida starter Scott Olsen, forcing him to leave the game in the fourth inning after scoring seven runs off him. Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand hit back-to-back shots off Olsen in the fourth inning, ending his day. Jose Castillo added the eighth Giants run in the eighth inning with a solo homerun of his own to give San Francisco a commanding 8-1 lead. The middle of the lineup drove the Giants offense, the three-four-five hitters went seven-for-twelve, scoring six of the eight runs, and producing five of them. Rich Aurilia also added two doubles out of the seventh spot in the lineup.
This afternoon the Giants will start Matt Cain against Florida’s Burke Badenhop. The game is set to begin at 4:10 p.m. Cain was roughed up in his last start, and has been inconsistent so far this season, but if the offense continues to produce like it has in the last two games, he should have a good shot at extending the winning streak to four games.

Despite only getting three hits through the first eight innings of Wednesday’s game, the Giants pulled off a stunning comeback win to take the series from Colorado. After tying the game at two in the ninth inning, the Giants added on what ended up being the winning run in the tenth inning to complete the comeback. The final score in ten innings was 3-2, another one-run game.
Jonathan Sanchez allowed two early runs, one in the first inning and the other in the second that held up through most of the day, but other than that, he was solid. Over six and a third innings of work he gave up eight hits, three walks, and those two runs while striking out five Rockies hitters. With the exception of two walks, the bullpen was perfect. Billy Sadler relieved Sanchez to finish off the seventh inning. Alex Hinshaw and Tyler Walker each had perfect innings in the eighth and ninth innings, both struck out a batter; Walker was credited with the win. Closer Brian Wilson walked a batter in the tenth inning, but also struck out two Rockies for the extra inning save.
Omar Vizquel and Bengie Molina were the only two Giants in the lineup who had more than one hit. Vizquel singled earlier in the game, then doubled and scored a run in the ninth, and hit an important sacrifice fly that gave the Giants the lead in the tenth, both of Molina’s hits were singles. Pinch hitter Steve Holm hit a double in the ninth that tied the game up, forcing it to additional frames. The offensive production was just ample, coming back in the final inning and winning it in extra innings.
The Giants have today off, but will travel to Florida and start a three game series tomorrow against the Marlins. The first two games of the series will start at 4:10 p.m., and the finale will be at 10:10 p.m. Barry Zito will pitch against Scott Olsen in game one. After such an emotional comeback win, the Giants should carry some momentum into their series with Florida.

This was not Tim Lincecum’s best start of the season, but he got the job done and put an end to the six-game losing streak with a 6-5 win over Colorado in the second game of the series. The middle relievers helped hold the lead, but the Rockies would not go away until the final out and kept the game close.
Lincecum pitched well enough to give the Giants a chance to win, and they managed to just get that done. He lasted six innings, striking out six batters, but also walked four. The walks hurt him, along with five hits that produced three runs for the Rockies. He was able to spread the runs out, allowing one each inning through the second to fourth innings. Keiichi Yabu pitched a perfect seventh inning with a strikeout. Tyler Walker relieved him in the eighth and got out of the inning without giving up any runs on two hits. After scoring two more runs in the ninth inning, extending the Giants lead to three runs, Brian Wilson came in to get the save, but it was easier said than done. Three hits and a walk produced two runs for Colorado, who drew within one run of tying the game; a two-run homer to Rockies shortstop Clint Barmes helped his team feel a sense of hope. But a strike out of third baseman Garrett Atkins with runners on first and second put an end to the Rockies ninth inning comeback.
Together, the Giants put up fourteen hits today, and this time many of them came in clutch situations. San Francisco jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the first inning, and added another run on a solo homer by Rich Aurilia. Bengie Molina and Aurilia each went three-for-four. Molina hit a double and two singles, scoring a run himself and driving in another. In addition to his homerun, Aurilia also had two singles. Rightfielder Randy Winn reached base twice, once on a walk and again on a double, he came around to score both times. Aaron Rowand singled twice, both times driving in a run. Leftfielder Fred Lewis had what turned out to be an important at-bat in the ninth, crushing a pitch out of the park for a solo homer.
Jonathan Sanchez will start the finale of the series for San Francisco against Colorado’s Ubaldo Jimenez. The game is an unusual midday game, scheduled for 12:05 p.m. The Giants will get a much needed day off tomorrow before heading to Florida to take on the Marlins starting on Friday.

A big sixth inning helped the Rockies to a one-run defeat of the Giants, sending them to their sixth loss in a row. Despite leading for much of the game and outhitting Colorado, the Giants could not hold on, losing 4-3.
Pat Misch’s first win seems to be eluding him, much like Barry Zito’s is. Misch lasted five and a third innings, before being knocked out of the game thanks to the Rockies sixth inning rally. He finished the day allowing five hits, and three runs, one of them being a solo homerun in the fourth inning to Rockies shortstop Clint Barmes. Vinnie Chulk attempted to bail Misch out of trouble and finish off the inning in a three-three tie, but gave up a hit and walk to give the Rockies a one-run lead that would hold up until the end of the game. Billy Sadler and Alex Hinshaw each threw scoreless innings to end the game; Sadler allowed one harmless hit in the eighth inning, and Hinshaw was perfect with two strikeouts in the ninth.
The Giants jumped out to an early 1-0 lead in the first inning when rightfielder Randy Winn hit a solo homer off Rockies starter Jorge De La Rosa. Winn also had a single which drove in another run for San Francisco, he was two-for-three on the day. Leftfielder Fred Lewis hit two triples, and was also two-for-three. The offense continued to struggle with runners in scoring position, going just one-for-eight in those situations.
Tim Lincecum will be a great candidate to end the losing streak. He will pitch tonight against Colorado’s Aaron Cook at 5:35 p.m. San Francisco can almost always be guaranteed a win when Lincecum starts a game.