Sunday, August 24, 2008

Molina, Correia lead Giants to fifth-straight win


Associated Press (AP)
Kevin Correia pitched six innings to win for only the second time since April, Bengie Molina homered and drove in five runs and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 7-4 on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep.

Correia (3-7) gave up a homer to Brian Giles on his first pitch of the game but was solid after that, scattering seven hits and striking out four on his 28th birthday. His only other wins this season came against St. Louis on April 10 and the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 28.

Molina finished with three hits and came within a triple of hitting for the cycle for the first time in his career. He also had an RBI double in the fourth and a run-scoring single in the fifth.

Randy Winn and Fred Lewis added three hits apiece for San Francisco, which won its fifth straight. It's the Giants' longest streak since winning six in a row Aug. 23-28, 2007.

Brian Wilson worked a perfect ninth to earn his NL-leading 35th save in 38 chances.

The sweep of the Padres was the Giants' first in San Francisco since Aril 5-7, 2002. They also won a two-game series in San Diego earlier this year and have won 10 of the last 14 games between the two teams.

The Padres (48-82), meanwhile, dropped their seventh straight and fell a season-high 34 games under .500.

Giles hit the first pitch from Correia over the right field wall and into the waters of McCovey Cove. It was the fourth career leadoff homer for Giles and the Padres' seventh this season.

San Diego added two more in the fourth, stringing together four straight one-out singles off Correia. Edgar Gonzalez drove in Kevin Kouzmanoff, then Chase Headley later beat Winn's throw to the plate after Nick Hundley had singled to make it 3-0.

Correia settled down to retire eight of the final 10 batters he faced before giving way to reliever Jack Taschner to start the seventh.

Molina got San Francisco's offense going when he doubled in Fred Lewis in the fourth. Molina was also credited with an RBI single in the fifth when Headley, San Diego's left fielder, lost a fly ball in the sun. The ball bounced off the wall, allowing Ivan Ochoa to score and cut the lead to 3-2. Pablo Sandoval then tied the game with an RBI single off reliever Brian Falkenborg.

San Francisco took a 4-3 lead on Randy Winn's RBI single in the sixth before Molina's homer off loser Mike Adams (1-3) broke the game open.

San Diego added a run in the eighth and loaded the bases with two outs, but Taschner struck out Jody Gerut to end the threat.

Notes: The three-plus innings was the shortest start of Banks' career. He has lasted only 12 1-3 innings over his last three outings, but was 1-0 with a 0.56 ERA in two previous starts this year against San Francisco ... The Giants improved to 7-1 in their last eight series.

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