Mercury News
Edgar Renteria's flare to left field won't look like much in the box score, but the way the Giants offense had been going, it might as well have been a 550-foot blast into McCovey Cove.
The fifth-inning single on Tuesday night brought Todd Wellemeyer home, snapping a streak of 24 consecutive scoreless innings. The Giants had gone 25 at-bats with a runner in scoring position without a hit, but Renteria's knock opened the floodgates.
San Francisco tacked on three more in the inning and snapped a five-game losing streak with a 4-2 win over the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park.
"You really could (feel a change) throughout the dugout when we got the hit from Edgar," manager Bruce Bochy said. "When you go a period of time without the big hit, it mounts up a little bit, but he came through for us. Sometimes it gets contagious, and we had some great at-bats."
Wellemeyer (3-4) more than held up his end on the mound. The right-hander had been in danger of losing his spot in the rotation but looked sharp Tuesday, giving up two earned runs on four hits in six innings.
"I had the vibe going, and I think they fed off it," Wellemeyer said. "Mechanically, I felt good. A lot of it (tonight) was just rhythm. Rhythm and timing."
The Giants hitters haven't had rhythm or timing during a scoreless streak that started in the eighth inning of Friday's loss to Oakland. They got off to an ominous start Tuesday, with Andres Torres and Renteria being stranded in scoring position in the first four innings. But after three games of hitting hard shots in all the wrong spots, the Giants finally caught a break with two outs in the fifth inning when Wellemeyer's soft fly ball landed just inside the right-field line. Torres followed with a single up the middle, setting up Renteria's slump-busting hit. Mired in a season-long losing streak, the Giants had repeatedly stressed that all it would take was one or two guys to get the whole lineup going. Renteria's single did the trick, making an unlikely clubhouse hero of Wellemeyer. "A pitcher starts a rally for you "... it's just the breaks you get," Aubrey Huff said. "You get these things started in the most unlikely places. Those are the kinds of things that get you out of your ruts." Freddy Sanchez followed with a two-run double to right, and Pablo Sandoval brought him home with a double to deep center. The win didn't come without a price, however, as Renteria left in the eighth after suffering a right-hamstring injury running out a sacrifice bunt in the seventh. Renteria, who returned from a right-groin strain Saturday, said the hamstring "grabbed him" halfway to first base. He will have an MRI exam today and miss at least one game. The injury put an end to Bochy's defensive experiment, which was designed to put more bats in the scuffling lineup. Juan Uribe moved to third base, Sandoval moved to first base, and Huff started in left field. It was the first baseman's first start in the outfield since 2006, but Huff didn't have any trouble catching three balls hit his way, including a liner on the game's first batter. "I wanted to get one out there early, so it worked out good," said Huff, who spent a couple of weeks shagging flies before games to prepare. Bochy was pleased with the changes but expressed disappointment that Renteria's injury will keep the Giants from employing Tuesday's successful lineup for the time being. "You're hoping to get some continuity," Bochy said. "That's what's frustrating. That makes this a tough win for us."
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