Henry Schulman
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
If the Giants reach the playoffs, one has to believe they will look back upon a good final month from their Caballo, their Big Money, Bengie Molina.
After he hit a Ruthian homer in the eighth inning to give the Giants a 3-2 win Friday night - a rare victory in Miller Park - Molina said bring it on.
"I've always liked the pressure," he said. "I've always been a kid who was against the current. I was always uphill, battling my butt off to get where I am. I don't get afraid of that. I like the challenge. I want to do good to help this team win. I don't want to take it by myself, by any means, but I'll take the challenge."
The Giants' challenge was winning an ugly little game in which their pitchers walked 10 Brewers and their offense sputtered against Jeff Suppan, whom they had pulverized twice this season. They did it, capturing their sixth win in their last 24 games in Milwaukee and staying a game behind Colorado for the wild card.
The Brewers jumped on Barry Zito for two runs in a first inning that featured two hits, two walks and three stolen bases. But Zito and the Giants' league-leading bullpen skunked Milwaukee the rest of the way, long enough for the Giants to score two gift runs in the sixth and set the stage for Molina's heroics.
"It was a grind out there," Zito said. "That was one of our better wins of the year, if not the best. The bullpen picked me up huge. They had a big game because I was out after four innings, and the offense never gave in."
Reliever Todd Coffey fed Molina a low, first-pitch fastball to start the eighth inning. That is where Molina likes it, and he sent the baseball soaring over the center-field wall, way over, a great moment for a Giant who has not had the best 10 days.
Molina missed eight starts with a quadriceps strain. Some in the organization were exasperated with the time it took Molina to return. When the Giants promoted Buster Posey over the weekend, many viewed that as a sign the team wanted to motivate Molina.
Molina had fun with that before the game. In front of a reporter, he walked up to Posey during batting practice, smiled and said, "Will you stop trying to light a fire under me? Come on. Stop it."
Until Molina homered, the Giants could not score without help. With two outs and two on in the sixth, center fielder Mike Cameron dropped a sinking liner by Nate Schierholtz, allowing Edgar Renteria to score their first run. Aaron Rowand then tied the game with a line single to right.
The real San Francisco stars were relievers Bob Howry, Dan Runzler, winner Brandon Medders, Jeremy Affeldt and Brian Wilson. Howry inherited a bases-loaded jam in the fifth and got the final two outs. Runzler, a lefty in his major-league debut, came on with two on and two outs in the sixth and struck out Jody Gerut on three fastballs.
Molina saw the movement on Runzler's first 95-mph fastball and decided to save the kid's breaking stuff for another day. What a great bow for the 24-year-old.
"It hit me when I came into the dugout," Runzler said. "Everyone was yelling. People were joking with me having a good time. Affeldt came in there and said, 'Hey, it's easy, isn't it?' Then (Tim) Lincecum joined it. That kept it loose."
Wilson did not have an easy save. He had to get through the heart of Milwaukee's lineup. On June 27, he blew a save here on a two-run Prince Fielder double. On Friday, Wilson got Fielder to ground into a force for the key out in the inning.
Pablo Sandoval made a pretty play on Fielder in an ugly win that the Giants will gladly take, because this is not the time of year to count style points.
From: MLB.com San Francisco (74-61) Won 1 | San Francisco 3, Milwaukee 2 |  Milwaukee (65-69) Lost 1 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Standings thru 9/4/09 | Recap: SF | MIL | Wrap | Gameday |
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