Giants' bullpen falters in Philly

Laurence Miesema - MercuryNews

With the Giants expecting to see nothing but left-handed starters for a week, right-handed hitters like Rich Aurilia and Jose Castillo are going to have to carry a large load of the offense.

Sunday afternoon, both veteran infielders were up to the challenge. The Giants bullpen and defense was not.

Aurilia had three extra-base hits for the first time in his 14-year career, including a tying two-out, two-run home run, and Castillo contributed a pair of run-scoring hits, the second a go-ahead RBI triple in the eighth inning.

But Vinnie Chulk, after working out of a one-out, first-and-second jam in the seventh, allowed a tying home run to Carlos Ruiz in the eighth inning, and then second baseman Eugenio Velez's error with two out in the ninth allowed the Phillies to earn a 6-5 victory.

Tim Lincecum, pitching two days shy of the first anniversary of his big-league debut and against the same team against which he broke into the majors, pitched six good innings, but, as in his debut, did not factor in the decision. Lincecum allowed four runs, but none were earned as they resulted from two Giants errors.

Phillies starter Cole Hamels was the first of six consecutive left-handed starters the Giants are expected to face until the series finale against Philadelphia at AT&T Park on May 11.

Aurilia had been 1 for 13 against left-handers this season, but he was locked in against Hamels, one of baseball's best. Entering the game, Hamels was ninth in the league with a 2.70 ERA and had pitched into at least the seventh inning in all six of his starts.

Hamels lasted six innings against the Giants and probably would have gone deeper if Aurilia had not lined two-run shot over the left-field wall in the sixth inning that tied the score at 4-4.

Castillo, who had been 2 for 16 against lefties, hit the tying triple off right-handed reliever Chad Durbin. But he went 1 for 3 against Hamels and sparked the Giants in the fourth inning with a two-out, RBI single to cut the deficit to 2-1. He scored from first base one batter later on Aurilia's double to center that tied the score at 2-2.