GIANTS Sweep Snakes

A Winn-Winn deal for Giants

Bruce Jenkins - San Francisco Chronicle

The Giants were playing it cool, but rookie Emmanuel Burriss allowed himself a leaping high-five. The smiling, hatless Omar Vizquel made the rounds with his vigorous handshakes while manager Bruce Bochy, the slowest-moving man in America, made a satisfying walk back to the dugout.

The Giants had gathered outside their dugout to celebrate a three-game sweep of the Arizona Diamondbacks, capped by a 4-3 thriller Thursday night. They had found definition to a season that may yet go sour, but for the moment felt rich and rewarding. They had Randy Winn to thank, more than anyone, but they'd been in this thing together.

There was no better word than "shocking" for Winn's game-winning home run, an opposite-field shot to left against right-handed reliever Chad Qualls in the top of the ninth. Not that it was so surprising to Winn, who already had homered off Randy Johnson in the game, but the Chase Field patrons have grown accustomed to happy endings this year. To lose a third straight to the Giants, that way, tested the limits of anyone's imagination.

Winn wasn't looking to go deep, saying Qualls is "a pure sinkerball guy. He keeps it down and you can't be looking for a home run off a guy like him. That ball just happened to be up."

Heading back to San Francisco, where they open a three-game series against San Diego tonight, the Giants probably felt as if they'd left a few body parts behind. Rich Aurilia was hospitalized with a kidney stone Thursday afternoon and didn't rejoin the team until late in the game. Aaron Rowand took a Qualls fastball off his left hand in the ninth inning, and while he indicated it was nothing beyond excessive swelling, he will have X-rays today.

Rowand made a play in the fourth inning, deep in left-center field, that typified the Giants' play in the series. Bothered all season by sore ribs, Rowand had some questions in his mind as he made an all-out dive to snag Stephen Drew's long drive off Barry Zito.

"I've been waiting for an opportunity to test myself," Rowand said. "The ribs have been feeling better, but I wasn't sure how it was going to feel. It was good. Good sign."

Zito's performance was encouraging, as well, although he stood to take a 3-2 loss until Fred Lewis drew a bases-loaded walk off reliever Tony Peña in the eighth. Mostly sharp with the curveball and hitting 86 mph (a decent mark for him) on the fastball, Zito allowed six hits over six innings, saying, "I wasn't worrying about anything but the moment. I had good movement on the two-seamer, and I was aggressive, getting ahead of the count."

The team, though, was foremost on Zito's mind. This was a night when Johnson struck out nine Giants, landing him squarely on 4,672 for his career and tied for second place with Roger Clemens on the all-time list. On the strength of Winn's fourth-inning homer and an RBI single by Vizquel, the Giants held their ground against the formidable Johnson.

"This was just a great team series," Rowand said. "Everybody contributed in some way. The way we went about our business was a real momentum builder. A confidence builder, too."

"We just kept fighting to the end," Zito said. "That's what good teams do. We're starting to have some fun out there."

That applied to everyone but Aurilia, who still hadn't passed his kidney stone after the game and was preparing to board the team flight. No one escapes the pain of such an experience, but he was likely to crack a smile or two. The Giants' postgame mood was highly contagious.