Giants leave San Diego with a win

Andrew Baggarly - MercuryNews

When the Giants mail out season's greetings this winter, it might be polite to send a fruit basket to Petco Park. As dark as the Giants' season has been, can you imagine what their record would look like if they didn't have 18 games with the deplorable San Diego Padres?

They completed the season series with an 8-6 victory in 10 innings Sunday afternoon, their 13th win over the Padres this year.

The Giants rallied from a four-run deficit to take Barry Zito off the hook. Pablo Sandoval doubled and scored on a wild pitch to put the Giants ahead in the 10th inning, and Brian Wilson recorded his 39th save.

The Giants dominated the season series with the Padres, one year after San Diego took 14 of 18 meetings.

A day after passing the Colorado Rockies for third place in the N.L. West, the Giants moved within 41/2 games of the second-place Diamondbacks. They'll begin a four-game series in Arizona on Monday.

Zito had his first truly bad outing in 10 career appearances in his hometown, giving up six runs in 42/3 innings. It was a start pulled straight from his scattershot first half. He allowed eight hits and issued five walks, one off matching his season high.

The Padres scored four runs in the second inning and two more in the fourth to take a 6-2 lead.

But Zito was spared his 17th loss of the season when the Giants rallied to tie with a four-run sixth. The first five batters all singled against right-hander Cla Meredith, with Omar Vizquel's two-run hit knocking the sidearm right-hander from the game. Pinch hitter Dave Roberts followed with a sacrifice fly against Mike Adams to tie the score.

And just like that, Zito was absolved. With two starts remaining, the worst he can do is tie the San Francisco-era record for losses in a season, which Ed Halicki set when he went 12-18 in 1968.

The Giants improved to 8-5 in extra-inning games. Even though they tacked on an extra run on a bases-loaded walk in the 10th to make it a two-run victory, it's worth noting that the Giants are 29-18 in one-run games. Their plus-11 record is second best among N.L. clubs; only the Milwaukee Brewers (plus-14) are better.