Kevin Correia and Bengie Molina helped San Francisco extend their winning streak to five games with a 7-4 Sunday afternoon victory over the Padres. The Giants had a successful weekend as they swept a weak San Diego team.
Correia celebrated his birthday with his third win of the season, but allowed the Padres to take a 3-0 lead. He went six innings, giving up three runs on seven hits and two walks while striking out four. It looked as if he was going to have a rough day when Brian Giles led off the game with a homerun, but Correia quickly settled in. Jack Taschner pitched two-thirds innings, starting in the seventh inning, and allowed two hits before being rescued by Keiichi Yabu. Yabu pitched the Giants out of the seventh, but then gave up the fourth Padres run to start the eighth. Alex Hinshaw finished off the eighth inning, giving up just one hit to set up Brian Wilson for yet another save situation. Looking effortless, Wilson pitched a perfect ninth inning to earn his thrty-fifth save of the season while recording one strikeout.
Leadoff man Randy Winn had a good day at the plate, going three-for-four with singles, a walk, a run scored, and an RBI, but Molina really stole the show. Molina also went three-for-four with a run scored, but doubled in two runs before giving the Giants a comfortable lead in the sixth inning with a three-run shot, giving him five runs batted in on the day. Batting in front of Molina, Fred Lewis also collected three hits, and scored three times on Molina’s hits.
The Giants have not had a day off in over two weeks, but with the way they are playing now, they might not want one. The next three days will wrap up their homestand with a series against the Rockies. Matt Cain will pitch against Jeff Francis in game one tonight at 7:15 p.m.
