Wilson bounces back well

Closer gets the save after Molina's big hit

Henry Schulman - San Francisco Chronicle

In a perverse way, the Giants' maddening inability to score runs or consistently hit in the clutch served them well Saturday night.

For the second game in a row, they grabbed a one-run lead in the 10th inning, this time on an RBI single by their one tried-and-true money hitter, Bengie Molina. They had a chance to break the game open, but for the second time left the bases loaded.

That forced Brian Wilson to save a one-run lead one night after he blew one. He did it, the Giants won 3-2 and their rookie closer got a 50,000-watt jolt of confidence. Wilson was desperate to atone, too.

"I wanted it bad," he said. "I didn't want to wait until Tuesday or tomorrow. I kind of wanted a doubleheader last night."

And yes, he wanted a one-run lead because "I don't want to have to warm up for too long. We score four runs, and all of a sudden I'm not pitching anymore. Score one, get it quick and get out of there."

Manager Bruce Bochy's cardiologist was not available to provide a second opinion. Bochy called Wilson's 10th save in 12 chances "big. We wanted to be in a situation where we got him back out there. We didn't want it to be a one-run ballgame."

Bochy better get used to those. The Giants have played 31 games, and more than half (15) have been decided by one run, including the last four. The Giants are 8-7 in those games.

Part of that is good pitching, such as the fine seven-plus innings from Matt Cain on Saturday before he left with a tight right hamstring, nothing serious, he said. But the other part is a lack of power and clutch hitting, evidenced by their outhitting Philadelphia 27-11 in the first two games here yet splitting a pair of one-run contests.

There is an adage that close wins build character and success. Molina buys into that, saying, "The more one-run games you play, the better players you're going to become, for sure. Those games give you a lot of confidence, a lot of practice in tough situations."

Starters Brett Myers and Cain made it close. The Giants scored a first-inning run when Fred Lewis walked, stole second and came home on a Randy Winn single. Chase Utley tied it with his 13th homer in the fourth. Lewis untied it with his third homer, a liner into the right-field seats in the fifth that he said "was shocking and surprising to me. At our place, that would probably be a line drive off the wall."

Lewis crossed the plate with the Giants' 100th run, making them the last team in the majors to get there.

Geoff Jenkins retied it with an even shorter home run in the bottom of the inning. All eight Philly runs in the series have come on homers.

Tough-as-nails Jack Taschner sent the game into extra innings by striking out Ryan Howard after deflecting an Utley line drive to Eugenio Velez, who started a double play.

The Giants scored the go-ahead run in the 10th against Rudy Seanez on Winn's second single, a steal (the team's third) and Molina's single into the left-field corner. Then, it was Wilson time. His first hitter? Pat Burrell, of course, the guy who beat him with a two-run homer Friday night.

"It's perfect that he would be leading the inning off," Wilson said. After throwing nothing but fastballs in the loss, Wilson started Burrell with a slider and eventually walked him. Jenkins grounded into a force. Wilson then went 3-2 to Carlos Ruiz and Eric Bruntlett, but struck out the former and induced a grounder by the latter to end the game.

Wilson insisted he did not change his approach from the night before.

"I just located my fastball in and out, the same approach," he said. "I was just a little bit smarter locating. If I was going to miss, I wasn't going to miss over the plate. I was going to miss down and away or down and in."

The late hours after that blown save were "starting to be a bitter night," Wilson said, but he snapped out of it when he realized the Giants still had more than 130 games to play. If they hold to form, 65 to 70 will be settled by one run, which means Wilson will have plenty of opportunities to get a handle on the ulcer-inducing assignment he has embraced.