Giantsblog

PHILADELPHIA — San Francisco got two things they wanted Thursday evening; a win over the Phillies in the rubber match game and Carlos Beltran making his Giants debut against the team that also displayed high interest in acquiring Beltran, the Phillies.

This series, which the Giants won 2-1, potentially gave fans an eye opener for a possible playoff matchup come October.  As expected, pitching was the key to victory.

San Francisco managed to score just two-runs in each of the first two-games, taking game two with a final of 2-1.  On Thursday though, the Giants were able to score four-runs behind their starter, Tim Lincecum, who threw six shutout innings in a 4-1 victory over the Phillies.

However, all things did not go as planned on the offensive side as Beltran went 0 for 4 with two strikeouts in his debut with the Giants.  Lucky for him the rest of the Giants batters made due without his bat to score four-runs off Phillies starter, Kyle Kendrick.

Pablo Sandoval got San Francisco its first run of the evening in the second-inning by sending his tenth homerun into the left-field stands.

In the fourth, with two-outs, Aubrey Huff doubled to right-field and would soon score the Giants second run of the night on Nate Schierholtz RBI-single.

With runners at the corners in the seventh, Aaron Rowand cracked a hot one-hopper to Phillies third basemen, Michael Martinez, who bobbled the hit, allowing Schierholtz to score from third.  Trying to throw Rowand out at first, Martinez air-mailed the throw to Ryan Howard, allowing Chris Stewart to score all the way from first, giving the Giants a 4-0 lead heading into the stretch.

In the bottom of the seventh, Carlos Ruiz doubled to lead-off the inning.  After a strikeout and fly-out, Martinez would extend the inning further by reaching first on a fielding error, advancing Ruiz to third.  Fan favorite, Chase Utley then doubled to break the Phillies shutout as Ruiz walked in for Philadelphia’s lone-run.

In the ninth, Brian Wilson and his beard entered the game to send the Phillies home to prepare for their instate rival, the Pittsburgh Pirates.

Wilson as usual had no trouble closing out the game, allowing just one-hit while striking out two.  With the save, Wilson now widens his gap over Braves closer, Craig Kimbrel, by two saves, as he now leads the Majors with 33-saves.

After traveling to Cincinnati for a three-game set, the Giants return home for two key series.  They open up the month of August hosting the Arizona Diamondbacks where most fans are hoping they can push Arizona a few more games behind them in the division race.  Following that series, San Francisco will face off with Philadelphia again, this time, in a four-game series.

SAN FRANCISCO — Nothing much better than a Sunday afternoon pitcher’s duel to close out the rubber match of a three-game series.  Unless of course you are the fan that likes the offensive blow-out.

San Francisco edged out the Milwaukee Brewers 2-1 behind starter, Madison Bumgarner’s 7 2/3 innings.

Even though the 2-1 victory only gives Madison a 6-9 record on the season, what should be noted is the Giants result over Bumgarner’s last six starts.  The Giants have won each of the six previous games Bumgarner has started and he has earned three of his six wins during the span.  As long as he continues to put the Giants in contention of every game he goes out to pitch, it will not matter at season’s end what his win-loss total is.

Yovani Gallardo of the Brewers had to suffer the loss despite going seven-innings, and allowing just two-run on six-hits.

Bumgarner’s one mistake was a pitch to Ryan Braun in the first-inning that left the park.  Other than that, Bumgarner was in complete control.  The only problem was that he only had one-inning, the seventh, in which he did not allow a hit.

Bumgarner even got involved in his victory by doubling to center in the third.  He would come around to score the Giants first run on Jeff Keppinger’s RBI-single to tie the game 1-all.

In the fourth, Mike Fontenot’s sacrifice-fly to center would score Nate Schierholtz to give the Giants the lead and their eventual victory.

Brian Wilson came into the ninth, striking out Prince Fielder and Yuniesky Betancourt and getting Rickie Weeks to fly out to earn his 31-save.  Wilson is now tied with Atlanta’s Craig Kimbrel for most saves pending Kimbrel does not get a save opportunity in the Braves Sunday night game against the Cincinnati Reds tonight.

SAN DIEGO — After Barry Zito’s recent success on the mound in his last three starts, the Giants starter went back to his inconsistent ways as he and the first-place San Francisco Giants lost 11-3 to the San Diego Padres.  The game also marked a two-month span in which the Padres had gone without a multi-homerun game, with the last occurrence taking place May 13.

By the time Zito exited the game in the fourth-inning, it was all but over for the Giants as they found themselves in a seven-run hole, trailing 8-1.

Zito could have limited, if not completely prevented, the first-inning damage if he had not allowed two key walks.  With two-outs and Jason Bartlett at second because of a walk and stolen base, Zito then proceeded to also walk Ryan Ludwick.  Zito then surrendered a three-run homerun to Jesus Guzman.

In the third, similar guys from the first-inning would come back to haunt Zito again.  Bartlett reached again and stole second.  The next batter, Chris Denorfia, took a walk to allow Guzman once again to do damage, as he singled to score Bartlett.  Orlando Hudson was due up next and he too, like Guzman, sent his second homerun of the season into the stands as the Padres now led 7-0.

Pablo would triple in the fourth to get the Giants only worthwhile highlight and would score on Cody Ross’s sacrifice fly that followed.  But San Diego got the run right back in the bottom half with Defnorfia’s RBI-single to put the Padres up 8-1 after four.

Miguel Tejada homered in the sixth-inning, but it would go unremembered as another high-scoring inning in the seventh really showed how in control the Padres were for this game.  San Diego loaded the bases with two walks and was given extra life by the Giants Brandon Crawford whose error allowed Bartlett to score and make way for Rob Johnson’s 2-RBI single.

Even Mike Fontenot’s RBI-double in the ninth would go unnoticed by most Padres fans as there was very little to worry about blowing an eight-run lead.

Cory Luebke of San Diego saw his longest outing of the season, going seven-innings of two-run ball before being yanked.  The lose hurts, but it will not do much, if anything, to the morale of this championship team as they still hold a comfortable lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

SAN FRANCISCO — Short, quick, and enjoyable for the San Francisco Giants and its fans.  It was a classic pitcher’s duel as divisional foes met at AT&T Park for the finale of a four-game series between the San Diego Padres and San Francisco Giants.

Giants’ starter, Barry Zito, continues to improve with each start.  Since his return from the disabled list in mid-April, Zito has dominated his opponents.  He has pitched 21-innings in which he has allowed only 13-hits and just a total of 3-runs.

But, Thursday’s game against the Padres really proved a testament to his recent success since being activated.  His toughest outing has been against the Detroit Tigers where he only lasted six-innings, but did not allow a run.  However, against the Padres, fans got to witness that Zito still can pitch in games that go down to the wire.

In Thursday’s game, Zito fanned seven batters over eight-innings.  He allowed only four-hits and his only mistake was a pitch to Ryan Ludwick in the seventh that ended up in the left-field bleachers to cut the Giants lead in half.  But in the end it would not matter in the long run as Giants closer, Brian Wilson entered the ninth and recorded his 25^th-save and preserved Zito’s third straight victory.  Going forward, Zito may be the fourth starter the Giants will need and use if they are to win the division.

Cory Luebke of San Diego however was not as dominant.  He was able to strikeout eight Giants, but it came with two-earned runs and an exit in the sixth.

San Francisco’s, Eli Whiteside, got a piece of Luebke, sending a leadoff homerun in the third to the fans in the left-field stands.

In the sixth, Miguel Tejada got on with a one-out double, later advancing to third on Pablo Sandoval’s single.  Another single by Pat Burrell brought home Tejada for a 2-0 lead, which would later turn out to be the game winner as the Padres would homer the very next inning.

But at the end of the night, this game was decided by the pitchers.  After the Ludwick homerun, neither team got a base-hit; 14-batters retired.

Since his return from the disabled list, Zito has dropped his ERA from 6.23 on April 16^th, to 3.18 after his eight-inning victory over the Padres this past Thursday.

DETROIT — The Detroit Tigers scored five unanswered runs as they overcame a 3-1 deficit to defeat the defending champion, San Francisco Giants in their final Interleague game of the season.  Magglio Ordonez’s two-RBI single in the seventh with two-outs ensured a Tigers win, 6-3.

San Francisco is sending four pitchers to Phoenix for the 82nd All-Star Game.  One of the four, Ryan Vogelsong, started for the Giants Sunday afternoon in Detroit, but the bullpen let the game slip away in the final innings.

Vogelsong went 6 2/3 innings, getting the first two Tigers in the seventh to fly out, but a walk issued to Brandon Inge ended Vogelsong’s day.  The All-Star did not impress much on the score sheet, allowing three-runs on four-hits with just five strikeouts.

The Tigers also are sending four of their own to Arizona, which includes one of the best starters in the game this season, Justin Verlander, and whom is much deserving of starting for the American League in Phoenix.

However, on this affair, it was Rick Porcello who got the nod for the Tigers and earned his seventh win of the season.  Porcello pitched seven-innings, striking out six, while surrendering three-runs on five-hits.

San Francisco got first blood, scoring in the fourth on Brandon Crawford’s RBI-groundout.  Aubrey Huff walked to start the inning, advancing to third on Cody Ross’s groundball that was deflected by the Tigers shortstop, Ramon Santiago, allowing play to continue.  Crawford brought Huff home following a Nate Schierholtz strikeout.

But the Tigers answered immediately in the bottom half as Brennan Boesch sent a solo homerun to tie the game at 1-all.

In the fifth, Porcello hit the Giants, Emmanuel Burriss, and surrendered a double to Pablo Sandoval which advanced Burriss to third.  Porcello then threw a wild pitch with Huff at-bat to give the lead right back to the Giants.  San Francisco increased their lead further as Sandoval scored their third run of the day from third on Ross’s grounder to left.

The Tigers though put up another run of their own in the sixth as Miguel Cabrera singled home Boesch who had doubled earlier in the inning; the Tigers still trailed 3-2.

In the seventh and eighth, the Tigers were able to jump out a head of the Giants as the Giants bullpen could not contain Detroit.

After the Giants were able to record the first two-outs in the seventh, Inge and Jhonny Peralta were each issued a walk, and Boesch kept the inning alive by reaching first on a throwing error by the Giants Miguel Tejada.  Ordonez was due up next and singled to drive in two-runs to give the Tigers their first lead of the afternoon, 4-3.

Things were not getting much better for San Francisco in the eighth as the pitching woes continued.  Again, the Tigers had two base-runners reach because of walks, and additional poor pitching prevented the Giants from escaping when they had two-outs in the inning.

Before anything further could be done, Inge tripled to drive in two more runs for the Tigers, who now led 6-3 and closed out the ninth for a victory that places them ½ game behind the division leading Cleveland Indians.