Mercury News
Travis Ishikawa was hard-pressed to think of a bigger hit he has had in his brief major league career. And the Giants might be hard-pressed to think of a bigger win they have had this season.
Roughly 24 hours after a crushing 14-inning loss in Colorado, Ishikawa's three-run home run in the eighth inning and Sergio Romo's one-out save in the ninth gave the Giants a badly needed 5-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night at AT&T Park.
"There's no way we could have lost that game. We weren't going to let it happen," said Romo, who picked up his second save of the season. "You could see it in my teammates' eyes, and you could see it in the way we came out and played.
"We wanted to win this game, and we wanted it bad."
Ishikawa, who had just one extra-base hit in his previous 31 games entering Tuesday, blasted an 0-1 fastball from Jon Rauch over the right-field wall to give the Giants a 5-2 lead in the eighth. Ishikawa also helped tie the score at 2-2 an inning earlier, leading off the seventh with a double and then scoring from third base on Dan Haren's wild pitch.
"I don't think I've hit a home run that late in a game to give us the lead," said Ishikawa, whose previous extra-base hit before Tuesday was a solo homer against the Los Angeles Dodgers on Aug. 10. "That's probably the biggest hit I've had so far."
The Giants also got a big hit from Juan Uribe, who homered in the second inning.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said before the game that he didn't want to use Jeremy Affeldt or Brian Wilson after the two relievers combined to pitch 31/3 innings during Monday's 6-4 loss to Colorado. But after Bob Howry walked Arizona outfielder Ryan Roberts to open the eighth inning and then threw two consecutive balls to Chad Tracy, Bochy called on Affeldt to preserve the 2-2 tie. Affeldt got Tracy to fly out to right field, and Roberts was caught stealing after he left first base early. Affeldt walked catcher Miguel Montero, but got Brandon Allen to pop out. Wilson, who pitched 22/3 innings Monday, came on in the ninth and got two outs, but he also allowed two walks and two hits before he was removed with the potential tying run on third base. Romo calmly got Tracy to ground out to end the game as San Francisco snapped its three-game skid and stayed four games behind Colorado in the National League wild-card race. "Normally, I'd let him go and get that last out. But you have to be concerned about his (pitch count) getting up there," Bochy said of Wilson. "He's done such a great job and been such a warrior for us. But we've got to protect him, and he's definitely (not available today)." Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain received his third straight no-decision and has not recorded a win since he helped the Giants beat Colorado 3-1 on July 24. Since then he has pitched at least seven innings in six straight starts. Considering the circumstances, Cain's start Tuesday might have been his most important of the season. The Giants right-hander lived up to the moment before he allowed a two-run double to Stephen Drew in the fifth inning that gave Arizona a 2-1 lead. In all, Cain allowed just four hits in seven innings. The Diamondbacks, who ranked 27th out of 30 major league teams in batting average coming into Tuesday, didn't offer much of a challenge to Cain early. In the first four innings, Arizona managed just three baserunners and didn't get a runner past second base until the fifth inning. "(Monday) was a long day and (this win) was something that needed to be done," Cain said. "We needed a win." From: MLB.com
 Arizona (55-71) Lost 1 | San Francisco 5, Arizona 4 |  San Francisco (68-58) Won 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 8/25/09 | Recap: ARI | SF | Wrap | Gameday |
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