Mercury News
Jonathan Sanchez threw a zillion pitches in five innings, the Giants' bullpen blew his lead in a nanosecond, Jeremy Affeldt sustained a troubling side injury, and Arizona's Kelly Johnson hit for the cycle Friday night.
Yet somehow, the Giants managed to come out on top in a 7-4 victory at Chase Field. Yes siree, playing a last-place team has its advantages.
Aubrey Huff hit two home runs, and Andres Torres crushed a tiebreaking, two-run triple in the seventh inning — a rally that Diamondbacks pitcher Edwin Jackson set up with two throwing errors after fielding sacrifice bunts.
The Giants weathered Johnson's cycle, the third in the major leagues this season, and a bullpen bereft of Affeldt held together for the club's 13th victory in 16 games.
With two more games to play in the Sonoran Desert, the Giants already clinched a winning trip. But the bullpen is a concern. After Dan Runzler's knee injury this month, Affeldt was the only left-hander in the bullpen. And he is likely going for tests today after feeling pain in the side of his left back area on his second warm-up pitch.
With Affeldt out, Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson combined to throw the final three innings.
"I have no idea what I'm dealing with," Affeldt said. "I hope it's not bad."
Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he and GM Brian Sabean would discuss potential roster moves.
"We'll have to have guys step up when this happens," Bochy said. "We've got the arms. They've just got to go out and do it." The trade market is thin on relief, but the Giants are looking. Along with Affeldt's injury, Santiago Casilla and Chris Ray didn't inspire confidence while blowing a 3-1 lead in Arizona's three-run sixth inning. Johnson's two-run triple off Casilla tied it. Sabean and top lieutenant Dick Tidrow watched from a suite and were joined by Arizona special assistant Bob Gebhard, who has much more authority under Arizona's new management regime. The Diamondbacks' bullpen has been brutal, but if spare arms such as Aaron Heilman and Chad Qualls interest the Giants, they could be had. Huff had joked before the game that he didn't feel too good after his round of afternoon batting practice. Pouring himself a drink from the cooler, he sighed and said, "Looks like 0 for 4 with four strikeouts." Pro tip: If Huff looks bad on the golf driving range, don't take him up on that $2 Nassau. Huff hit solo home runs in the first and sixth off Jackson — his third multi-homer game of the season and 12th of his career. He had two chances at the first three-homer game by a Giant since J.T. Snow did it in 2004, but he struck out and singled in his final two trips. There were even a few "MVP" chants for Huff in the late innings. "I've never heard that in my life, especially on the road," Huff said. "We've got a lot of fans wherever we go. It's pretty cool. It's been a fun ride so far." Johnson made the most of his milestone chance. He homered in the first inning, doubled in the fifth, tripled in the sixth and received a standing ovation after rapping a single off Romo in the eighth. Johnson joined Jody Gerut and, yes, Bengie Molina as the only big leaguers to hit for the cycle this season. The way Torres is hitting, it seems a matter of time before he turns the trick. He came to bat after Jackson made poor throws on bunts by Eli Whiteside and Eugenio Velez, but Bochy didn't try to test Jackson with a squeeze. Torres is doing far more damage when he swings away. His triple over center fielder Chris Young's head snapped the tie. "He keeps coming through for us," Bochy said. Sanchez struck out 10 in five innings while holding the Diamondbacks to one run, but he also walked five and needed 35 pitches to escape a fifth-inning jam that couldn't have been stickier without the Smuckers factory exploding. With the bases loaded and one out, Mark Reynolds swung through a gutsy, full-count slider to end an eight-pitch battle. Then Rusty Ryal worked Sanchez for 11 pitches before swinging at a full-count changeup in the dirt to end the inning.
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