In baseball, as in life, there always is time for redemption. Faith can be rewarded in the midsummer stifle, the warmth of autumn's bow and even in an early-November freeze, thanks to the modern schedule.
For Pablo Sandoval, it arrived in the 157th game of an awful personal season, and he hardly could have picked a better time. With two outs in the sixth inning of a tie game Tuesday night, Sandoval blasted a Rodrigo Lopez fastball off the bricks in right-center for a double, then scored on a pinch-hit single by Nate Schierholtz.
Sandoval slammed his hands together three times as he crossed the plate for the go-ahead run in a 4-2 victory against the Diamondbacks, which elevated the Giants to a season-best two-game lead in the National
League West over San Diego with five to play.
Sandoval also singled and made a diving stop of a Tony Abreu smash to end the top of the sixth, showing range that was missing for much of the year.
"When you score a run to get ahead it's exciting, especially at this moment, when you're fighting to win the division," Sandoval said.
Though the Giants hesitate to say they can taste the franchise's first division title in seven years, at least they can see it clearly on the menu.
"We're close," Sandoval said. "We've got five more games here. We're trying to play hard and need to play hard every game. Don't get comfortable."
Nothing has been comfortable for the Giants in 2010. They even needed a five-out save from Brian Wilson, his 46th, to take the series opener against an Arizona team that is spoiling to spoil.
Jonathan Sanchez earned his 12th win, which seemed like a fantasy when he was throwing ball four to everyone but Diamondbacks manager Kirk Gibson in the first two innings. In the second, Sanchez could see Chris Ray getting loose in the bullpen. Manager Bruce Bochy said he took the hook out of its case.
"This is (like a) playoff game," Sanchez said. "We can't lose this game. I know what's going on, but I just kept battling out there."
Despite four walks in the span of eight batters, Sanchez held the Diamondbacks to one run over the first two innings, on a sacrifice fly by pitcher Rodrigo Lopez. A Kelly Johnson homer in the third upped Arizona's lead to 2-0.
Sanchez saved himself and the team with three shutout innings to finish. He also struck out six to become the fourth left-hander in Giants history, and the first since Ray Sadecki in 1968, to reach 200 strikeouts.
The Giants tied the game on a leadoff triple by Andres Torres in the third, followed by Mike Fontenot's single, and Juan Uribe's 23rd homer to start the fourth. That tied his career high.
Lopez retired the first two Giants in the eighth before Sandoval, batting eighth, hit his double and scored on the Schierholtz single. Pat Burrell added an RBI single for insurance in the seventh.
Sandoval had been benched and might not have started had Freddy Sanchez been healthy. Bochy sheepishly declined to confirm that. Sandoval started to hit some balls hard on the road as a reserve and, in Bochy's words, seemed "more relaxed and comfortable."
Sandoval said he opened his stance a bit after watching some 2009 video with batting coach Hensley Meulens, which helps him see the ball longer. Good friend Torres provided the moral support.
"He's doing a great job," Torres said. "I told him to be positive. Every day we're going to battle to win. Forget about concentrating on what happened before. We've got to go out and play every game hard. That's the key for us.
No comments:
Post a Comment