Mercury News
The Giants changed their jerseys. They changed their pregame routine. And most significantly, they changed their opponent.
With the San Diego Padres a safe distance from Willie Mays Plaza, the Giants took out their frustration on the less fearsome Houston Astros in an 8-2 victory on a chilly Friday night at AT&T Park.
The Giants rebounded after a dispiriting three games against the NL West-leading Padres in which they scored just four runs. The sum of their offense Thursday was Eli Whiteside's infield single.
The Giants might be 0-6 and stymied for 1.3 runs per game against the Padres, but when taking on everyone else, they're 19-9 and receiving a healthy 5.2 runs per game.
"We're better than what we showed the previous three games," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "You credit good pitching, but this is a team that should score more runs."
Battle stations were fully operational again Friday, and Andres Torres made the most of a rare start against a right-hander. He doubled twice and tripled as the Giants strung together hits, ran the bases aggressively and remained undefeated in three games while wearing their bright — the fashion police might say garish? — orange uniform tops.
"I knew we were coming to play today," said Todd Wellemeyer, who threw strikes after receiving an early lead and pitched into the eighth inning. "I knew we were going to score runs."
How in the name of Karnak did Wellemeyer (2-3) come to such a premonition? "I don't know," he said. "I could just feel it. Good energy. Plus it was power orange night." Bochy and hitting coach Hensley Meulens made a few pregame adjustments. As usual, the club took batting practice on the field. But Bochy and Meulens shut off the lights and locked the door to the indoor cage, hoping to give a mental break to their eager hitters who normally line up early to take extra swings. "I think it worked," Torres said. "Sometimes we take too many swings. Sometimes I hit off a tee and just keep going. Take soft toss. Do one-hand drills. (Meulens) said, 'When I played, we didn't take so many swings. Just go take BP on the field and go play.' "It's a long season and you can get fatigued. I think it's true." Each starting position player reached base at least once, and Torres made Bochy look smart by starting him against a right-handed pitcher. In a long meeting after Thursday's loss, Bochy and GM Brian Sabean decided more speed near the top of the lineup could be the trick to get the offense going — hence Torres instead of John Bowker. "He really helped us get it going," said Bochy, "and keep it going." The Giants hadn't scored in 16 innings before Aubrey Huff snapped that streak with a two-out single in the first off right-hander Felipe Paulino. Following that icebreaker, they scored three runs in the second inning — their biggest single-inning output since the previous Thursday in Florida. They had gone 59 innings between the three-run rallies. Nate Schierholtz started it with a single and stole second base after coaches encouraged him to be more aggressive on the base paths. Matt Downs doubled in Schierholtz, and Torres provided more extra-base power, but the club also mixed in a good sacrifice bunt from Wellemeyer, a walk to Aaron Rowand and a productive out by Pablo Sandoval, whose ground ball scored a run. It was just Sandoval's second RBI in 11 games in May. Sandoval also hit a pair of singles for just his second multi-hit game of the month, too. He decided to wear his prescription glasses again, this time deciding to keep them on in the field, too. Sandoval left for a pinch runner in the eighth after getting hit by a pitch on the left foot, but X-rays did not reveal a fracture, and he walked without a limp in the clubhouse. He had played in all of the club's 3101/3 defensive innings this season before sitting out the ninth.
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