Mercury News
They built Wrigley Field at a time when most of the country still traveled by horse-drawn carriage, and the baseball facilities reflect it. The visiting batting cage is a tiny cave underneath the right-field bleachers.
But if the Giants do something magical in the cool evenings this autumn, that tight little hovel under the ivy will become a venerated place in franchise history.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy challenged his frustrated, impatient hitters in a cramped, pregame meeting, and they responded like they had visited the grotto at Lourdes in a 13-0 smashing of the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night. And just like that, the Giants moved back into first place, a half-game in front of the San Diego Padres.
Juan Uribe took the biggest draft of holy water, hitting a two-run home run and a grand slam in the second inning -- the largest output of RBIs by a Giant in a single inning in 40 years.
"It was a perfect time to meet and a perfect outcome," said Cody Ross, who had three hits, including his first homer as a Giant. "We all came together tonight. And our pitching "... it goes without saying how good they are.
"We talked about it: We've got to take it upon ourselves to get these pitchers the runs they deserve."
It was a balmy night on the North Side, and the flags stiffly pointed out to left field, but the prime hitting conditions didn't prevent Giants rookie Madison Bumgarner from recording a career-high nine strikeouts over seven innings.
It was a history-making performance. The Giants held their opponent to three runs or fewer for the 17th consecutive game -- the longest streak since a 20-game run by the 1917 Chicago White Sox. Buster Posey tapped the side of his wooden locker when told of the streak, then blinked in disbelief when informed of the history behind it. "Wow," the rookie catcher said. "Well, they deserve all the credit. We've got guys like (Dan) Runzler in the ninth inning tonight coming in with 95 mph from the left side. That shows you what kind of staff we have right there. That's the simplest way to put it." Despite the stellar pitching, the Giants wasted many of those nights while winning just 10 of 16 before Thursday. They scored just one run over the first two games of this series. Bochy's pregame message was simple and firm. "The gist was it'll take everybody keeping their focus, grinding at-bats and trusting the guy behind you," the manager said. "Just get a quality at-bat and keep the line moving." The Giants were facing a hot pitcher, too. Ryan Dempster entered with 14 scoreless innings over his previous two starts. But former Cub Mike Fontenot set the tone with a leadoff single, and Freddy Sanchez followed with a hit-and-run single. Aubrey Huff walked to load the bases for Posey, who grounded into a double play that scored Fontenot but minimized the inning. "We only got one run, and that can get you down," Bochy said. "But the guys did a great job and responded." Dempster hit Jose Guillen with a pitch to lead off the second inning, Uribe pummeled an 0-2 slider onto Waveland Avenue, and the line moved from there. After a double, three singles and a walk, Dempster hit Guillen with another pitch -- the first time in the Giants' 127-year history a player got plunked twice in the same inning. Uribe cleared the bases with another powerful swing and got mobbed as he descended the dugout steps. "Hey, that's my bodyguard!" Guillen shouted. "We'll do it the same tomorrow," Uribe said. "You get hit twice, then boom!" Uribe became the first Giant to drive in six runs in an inning since Jim Ray Hart, who had a three-run homer and a three-run triple in the fifth inning of a cycle game July 8, 1970, at Atlanta. Bochy said he and the staff would discuss the lineup on the plane as they headed to Denver with hopes of delivering a knockout blow to the third-place Colorado Rockies. It will be hard to envision a change at the top with Fontenot and Sanchez, who had six hits between them.
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