SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
As Edgar Renteria moved from St. Louis to Boston to Atlanta to Detroit, he had no idea Matt Cain was one of the unluckiest starters in baseball. He just knew Cain as a tough pitcher to face.
Now, Renteria knows, because his new Giants teammates and the press gave him a history lesson. He understands the grand slam he hit against Jake Peavy in Tuesday night's 8-3 victory against the Padres was a luxury his 24-year-old pitcher rarely knew.
"The first game we scored seven runs for him and the guys were talking about it," Renteria said. "I didn't know what they were talking about."
Maybe things finally have turned for Cain, who became the first Giants starter to two wins. How nutty is that, given the last two seasons?
The win was significant in other ways. The Giants forged their first winning streak of 2009, against a division foe that swept them in San Diego on the previous road trip. Cain ended a 10-game winless streak against the Padres, who always seemed to silence San Francisco hitters when he pitched.
Renteria matched his career high with five RBIs. After his seventh career grand slam, the first ever surrendered by Peavy, he also singled home Travis Ishikawa, who drew the critical fourth-inning walk that preceded the grand slam against a pitcher who struck out Ishikawa three times on April 11.
Ishikawa added a two-run single against Luis Perdomo, but Renteria became Cain's best buddy.
"I guess you'd have to say that," Cain said. "That's amazing what he did, obviously, with the grand slam and another RBI late in the game, and defensively, the work he did behind me and the rest of us."
Perhaps, too, Renteria bought some goodwill from fans who did not think much of his two-year, $18.5 million contract.
Cain allowed two runs in six innings, one an RBI single by Brian Giles that Ishikawa should have gloved, the other on a weird play at the plate in the fourth.
With the game tied 1-1 and two on, lead runner Adrian Gonzalez and Chase Headley tried to score on a Kevin Kouzmanoff double off the right-field wall. The runners were two steps apart because Gonzalez initially held up, fearing a catch.
Ishikawa took Aaron Rowand's relay and threw home, where Bengie Molina tried to tag both runners, the way Geena Davis did in "A League of Their Own" and Carlton Fisk did for real at Yankee Stadium in 1985. Home-plate umpire Jeff Nelson first pointed toward Headley and called him out, then pointed at Gonzalez and yelled, "Safe."
Molina was furious, sure he got both runners, but replays showed Nelson got the call right. The Padres had a 2-1 lead, fleeting though it was. In the bottom of the inning, after singles by Molina and Pablo Sandoval and Ishikawa's walk, Renteria hit his grand slam on a first-pitch hanging curveball for a 5-2 lead.
Five relievers finished the win. One of them, Alex Hinshaw, was optioned to Triple-A Fresno after the game. The Giants decided now was the time to add a third catcher, so Steve Holm was promoted.
The crowd of 39,314 that saw the win was large for a Tuesday night in April, swelled by 11,000 who took advantage of a Filipino Heritage Night promotion.
Before the game, the great Filipino fighter Manny Pacquiao threw the ceremonial first pitch to Tim Lincecum, whose mother is Filipina.
Lincecum was impressed with Pacquiao, saying, "I wouldn't fight him with a bat in my hand."
From MLB.com
 San Diego (9-5) Lost 2 | San Francisco 8, San Diego 3 |  San Francisco (5-8) Won 2 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 4/21/09 | Recap: SD | SF | Wrap | Gameday |
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