Phoenix - -- Bruce Bochy is reaching the age at which blowing out the candles on his birthday cake is like trying to extinguish the Chicago fire. How fitting that the Giants' oldest player made the manager's 56th birthday a happy one.
The story of Saturday night's 5-3 victory against Arizona, the Giants' fourth straight win, goes beyond Freddy Sanchez's game-tying double in the sixth inning and his two-run go-ahead single in the seventh.
Even the five double plays that the Giants grounded into in consecutive innings faded to the background as 37-year-old reliever Guillermo Mota relieved an injured Barry Zito in the second inning and carried the Giants through the sixth with the longest of his 672 career appearances, 4 1/3 innings.
Mota, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson pitched 7 1/3 innings of one-run ball after Zito sprained his right foot, jeopardizing his career distinction of not missing a start due to injury.
"Hats off to Guillermo Mota," said Mark DeRosa, who contributed a single to the winning rally. "He was the player of the game, no doubt."
Affeldt shot a glance at Mota and said, "Look at him. He's 80 years old," but the lefty acknowledged that Mota provided a lift that went far beyond Saturday's win.
"I didn't see that coming," Affeldt said. "He saved us for tomorrow. We've got a big series coming up in Colorado. Hopefully now we won't be burnt."
Before the Giants go for the sweep today, Zito will have an MRI taken of his right foot. X-rays taken Saturday night were negative, but the foot was swollen as he hobbled out of the clubhouse on crutches.
Zito had just surrendered a two-run double to Miguel Montero, which negated a two-run homer by Buster Posey in the first inning, and a single to Melvin Mora when D'backs starter Joe Saunders popped a bunt between the mound and plate. Zito lunged for the ball and caught it, but he landed oddly on his right foot with his first step.
He threw one more pitch before Posey went to the mound, followed by Bochy and head trainer Dave Groeschner. One practice throw later, Zito was done.
Zito has made 356 big-league starts. His streak will end if he goes on the disabled list. Then again, he pitched in Los Angeles four days after he hurt his neck in an auto accident.
"The way it felt, my foot was pretty painful," Zito said. "I couldn't throw the next pitch. But there are incredible things that can happen. I was able to recover from the accident. We'll see what the MRI shows and take it day by day."
The Giants won despite double-play grounders by DeRosa, Sanchez, Posey, Pablo Sandoval and Miguel Tejada in innings two through six. The Giants did tie it 3-3 before Tejada's double play when Aaron Rowand singled, one of his three hits, and Sanchez lined a double into the left-field corner.
With all the double plays, some managers might have been tempted to have Sanchez bunt, but not Bochy.
"I didn't swing the bat well my first two at-bats," Sanchez said. "He showed faith in me. He wanted me to swing that bat, which is all I wanted to do."
His two-run single through the hole in the seventh got a win for Mota, who said he was not tired after 50 pitches and would have gone out to face right-hander Xavier Nady in the seventh had he not been removed for a pinch-hitter.
"He's probably going to be in here tomorrow asking to start," Bochy said.
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