Rough first inning sinks Bumgarner, Giants

Chris Haft
MLB.com

CINCINNATI -- For whatever reason, whether it's coincidence or something more tangible, the Giants simply don't play well against the Cincinnati Reds.

Sauntering into Great American Ball Park after subduing the formidable Philadelphia Phillies twice in a row, San Francisco has dropped the first two games of this series to the Reds, including Saturday night's error-plagued 7-2 decision.

The Giants have lost 15 of their last 25 games against Cincinnati since 2008. They also sealed their first series loss since the A's swept them June 17-19 in Oakland. Since then, the Giants had won eight series and split two.

When the Giants began their 19-game stretch against contending teams on July 22 against Milwaukee, some observers mentally crossed the Reds off that list. After all, the Reds owned a sub-.500 record, which they still do. And the defending National League Central champions are on the fringes of the division race, trailing Milwaukee by 6 1/2 games.

But Cincinnati has been one of the league's most successful teams against the Giants this year, winning four of six games from them. Good thing for the Giants that the Reds no longer reside in the NL West, as they did before the onset of the Wild Card era in 1994.

Madison Bumgarner conjured memories of his eight-run, one-third-inning debacle June 21 against Minnesota. This time, seven consecutive Reds reached base safely with one out in the first inning, generating five runs.

Bumgarner (6-10) owns a first-inning ERA of 7.59. He couldn't explain this phenomenon.

"I don't think there's really an answer for it," he said. "I got some ground balls and they found holes. I don't think the fact that it's the first inning has anything to do with it. Sometimes it's the third inning; sometimes it's the fifth."

Bumgarner, a North Carolina native, said that the 82-degree gametime temperature didn't bother him. But the considerable humidity did.

"It was hard to grip the ball," he said.

Throwing 40 pitches in the first inning also hampered Bumgarner, who said that this overload left him feeling "a little tired."

Reds starter Mike Leake (9-6) thought that Bumgarner might have downplayed the heat slightly, expressing the belief that it has "taken a little toll" on the Giants. Added Leake, "They're used to nice, cool nights, and I think both their starters took awhile to get going. I think the heat got to them a little bit."

Under ordinary circumstances, Bumgarner might not have survived the first inning. But, having used six relievers for 6 1/3 innings in Friday's 13-inning loss, Giants manager Bruce Bochy had to stick with Bumgarner to avoid taxing his bullpen.

Nevertheless, Bochy was about to declare that enough was enough.

"He was facing his last hitter," Bochy said, recalling Bumgarner's 40-pitch, 11-batter ordeal that ended when Edgar Renteria, who doubled off the left-field wall earlier in the inning, struck out.

Bochy also confessed, "I don't know if I had eight innings of [relief] pitching."

Bumgarner responded with perfect innings in the second and third. But the Giants played an imperfect inning in the fourth, when throwing errors by third baseman Pablo Sandoval and left fielder Nate Schierholtz helped Cincinnati score a pair of unearned runs.

Despite all this, the Giants had chances to jump back into contention. They actually outhit Cincinnati, 11-7. But they wasted that production by going 2-for-14 with runners in scoring position. The Giants also encountered tough luck throughout the game (two line-drive outs, one warning-track fly) and, in the seventh inning, extreme frustration. Trailing by the ultimate five-run margin, they loaded the bases with one out against Leake. Then left-hander Bill Bray took over and disarmed San Francisco's two most dangerous hitters. Carlos Beltran, who has one hit in his first 14 at-bats as a Giant, hit a harmless fly ball to left field before Sandoval grounded out on a 3-2 pitch.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants fall to Cincinnati Reds in 13 innings

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

CINCINNATI -- Even with Carlos Beltran anchoring their lineup, the Giants have holes on their roster. For instance, they lack a right-handed-hitting shortstop -- someone to be this year's version of Edgar Renteria.

And, oh yes, you'd better believe this year's Renteria still knows how to meet a spotlight.

In a theatrical ending to a tense, 13-inning game, Renteria, the Giants' World Series MVP last season, bested Brian Wilson, who threw the final pitch that made the Giants champions.

Renteria lunged at an outside cutter, angled his body as he ran down the line and tossed his helmet when the ball nearly hit the chalk down the right-field line to give the Cincinnati Reds a 4-3 victory Friday night at Great American Ball Park.

"I prayed to get it fair," said Renteria, who declined the Giants' offer to return at a significant pay cut over the winter. "It was great. It was great against anybody. Facing a great closer like Wilson, I have to battle. I have to battle every pitch he throws. I got lucky I got a base hit."

The Reds' biggest horseshoe moment came one batter earlier, when reliever Jose Arredondo, making his first big league plate appearance, hit a chopper off the baked infield that went over third baseman Pablo Sandoval's head.

Wilson had issued a leadoff walk to Jay Bruce, and Arredondo, batting because the Reds were out of position players, hopelessly tried to bunt. That's when Cincinnati pitcher Johnny Cueto nudged manager Dusty Baker and reminded him that Arredondo first signed as a shortstop.

Baker boldly had Arredondo swing away to put runners at first and second. Then Renteria, whose three-run home run made all the difference in the Giants' World Series clincher, took a professional swing at a 1-2 pitch.

Catcher Eli Whiteside said he thought Wilson had sped up Renteria's bat with inside pitches that he fouled off. Wilson said he was hoping for a double play or strikeout.

"In the swing I saw, he was able to throw his bat at it and was able to place it perfectly on the line," Wilson said. "Can't do much about that."

The Giants didn't do enough offensively, and their lack of a right-handed-hitting shortstop exposed them. They had to start Mike Fontenot against left-hander Dontrelle Willis; Fontenot went 0 for 5 to extend an 0-for-22 streak, and worse, he stranded eight men on base while ending four innings.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy said he didn't consider pinch-hitting Brandon Belt for Fontenot with the bases loaded in the 10th inning. Fontenot struck out swinging on three pitches from Francisco Cordero.

"Font's been around," Bochy said. "He's got more at-bats in the major leagues. There were two outs, too. That's not a time to start burning up players.

"He had a tough matchup today. We have two left-handed-hitting shortstops."

Rookie Brandon Crawford, challenged at the plate, is the other. The club should have Miguel Tejada back from the disabled list in another week, but he doesn't have the range to play the position well anymore.

The Giants are rumored to have asked the Dodgers about Rafael Furcal. Maybe they should ask the Reds about Renteria, too.

As usual, the pitching staff gave the Giants every opportunity to win. Ryan Vogelsong managed a quality start -- six innings, three earned runs -- despite a laborious first two innings that included six hits and 49 pitches thrown in steamy conditions.

"As bad as I've been," said Vogelsong, who responded by getting "(ticked) off enough that I just started throwing it."

The bullpen was unreal, too, as five relievers combined for six shutout innings. Add outfielder Nate Schierholtz's arm to the list, too. He made a strong throw to save the game in the 10th inning, throwing out Joey Votto trying to score on Todd Frazier's fly ball to medium left field.

But the Giants couldn't find another clutch hit after Whiteside's tying double in the eighth.

"You give a team like that enough chances, after a while, they'll find a way," Bochy said. "It takes a big hit somewhere along the line, especially in this ballpark."

Bochy wasn't too charitable when asked about Renteria. There might be some sore feelings over the veteran's departure and subsequent comments about feeling disrespected.

But there's no doubting he is still dramatic when the right moment arrives. He stopped on first base, calmly turned toward the home dugout and waited motionless for his teammates to engulf him.

"The only guy I don't want in that situation," Sandoval said. "That's the only guy I was scared of."

Box Score

Tim Lincecum shows no weakness in San Francisco Giants' win over Philadelphia Phillies

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

PHILADELPHIA -- The infamously clever fans at Citizens Bank Park merely offered scattered wolf whistles for Tim Lincecum. But Phillies manager Charlie Manuel did plenty of chirping after Lincecum's six shutout innings led the Giants to a 4-1 victory to take two of three in one of baseball's toughest venues.

The Giants hadn't won a regular-season series at Philadelphia since 2004. But they shut down the Phillies to win the NLCS last season. Manuel didn't like all the platitudes his hitters showered on the Giants' pitching staff back then.

He isn't about to praise them now.

Asked how his lineup could solve great pitchers like Lincecum and Matt Cain, Manuel responded, "They're good pitchers. You say they're great pitchers. To me, I don't know how great they are. I think as they move on into their careers, there's the longevity part and "... that's when the greatness might come by.

"When you say somebody is great "... tonight I saw a 90 (mph) fastball, 92 at the best. I saw a good change-up. I saw a breaking ball. I saw a cutter. Good pitching, but at the same time we can beat that. I've seen us do that."

If Manuel likes the cards he's holding, so does Lincecum -- especially now that the Giants have Carlos Beltran, who was 0 for 4 in his debut but might have begun casting subtle influence on the rest of the lineup.

The crowd focused its wit and ill will on Beltran, their former N.L. East rival, and barely revived their whistling serenade for Lincecum -- a comment on his long locks -- when he came to the plate. It was much quieter than the cacophony that greeted him in the NLCS last season.

"I guess that it amps us up a little to come in here and do what we did last year in the playoffs and show them we can do it again," Lincecum said. "We've got the confidence. It's not just about what we did last year. We feel we can do it again this year."

Lincecum (9-8), who was scratched two days earlier because of a violent stomach ailment, had to work hard while stranding runners in five of his six innings.

Next time he faces the Phillies, perhaps Chase Utley will suddenly feel ill. He came to bat with runners in scoring position three times and made three outs against Lincecum, including strikeouts to kill opportunities in the third and fifth.

The Phillies hadn't lost consecutive home games since April. Meanwhile, the Giants improved to 8-1 in rubber games this season. This tilt might have held the most psychological importance -- even if Manuel insisted the Giants weren't in the Phillies' heads.

"Really, I don't think so at all," Manuel said. "I think we can get 'em, if you want to know the truth. I know we can get 'em. "... They've been playing us tough. They've got a good team. They've got good pitching. So do we. It's just a matter of us outplaying them. Basically, the last two nights they took it to us."

Beltran might be the Giants' most powerful offensive addition since Barry Bonds, but he didn't let a dramatic home run fly in his debut game. He grounded out to first base, struck out twice and flied out to right field.

His biggest moment probably came in the fifth inning, when he got a late jump on Jimmy Rollins' fly ball to right and took out a 2-foot chunk of turf while sliding on his right knee to make an awkward catch. His troublesome knees survived the tumble, but it might have caused mild arrhythmia in the Giants' front office.

The Giants had been the only team in the majors without a 10-homer man. Now they've got two. In addition to Beltran, who hit 15 homers as a Met, Pablo Sandoval's solo shot off Kyle Kendrick in the second inning was his 10th of the season.

Beltran said he encouraged Sandoval during batting practice to use the opposite field. That's where the Panda's homer went, curling just inside the left-field pole.

"Pablo has a lot of power, man," Beltran said. "He came in after the home run and was so excited. If he stays in the middle of the field, he can do a lot of damage. He proved it."

Box Score

Beltran joins Giants in Philly, ready to contribute

Sports Illustrated/Associated Press

PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Carlos Beltran landed a huge contract after one memorable October. He's hoping another big postseason will get him a ring.

Beltran joined the San Francisco Giants on Thursday after the defending World Series champions completed a trade to acquire the All-Star outfielder and cash from the New York Mets.

He was in the starting lineup, batting third and playing right field in the series finale against the major league-leading Phillies.

"These guys have been there before, and everyone knows their role," Beltran said. "They did a great job last year. They did everything right to win the World Series. They pitched well, they played good defense, they contributed offensively when they needed it most. I'm just coming here to be a part of what they already have and am looking forward to that."

Adding Beltran upgrades San Francisco's inconsistent offense, and could help the Giants make another championship run. Beltran first had to approve the deal to the NL West leaders, who parted with top pitching prospect Zack Wheeler.

Beltran had an incredible postseason with Houston in 2004, batting .435 (20 for 46) with eight homers and 14 RBIs. The Astros lost to St. Louis in seven games in the NLCS.

Beltran's reward was a $119 million, seven-year deal with the Mets.

"I'm not thinking about '04. I already got paid for '04," Beltran said. "I'm thinking about 2011, and I feel this year I'm healthy, and I'm just looking for a way to be a contributor to the lineup that they already have. I'm just looking forward to jumping in and doing the best I can to help this team continue to win ballgames offensively and defensively."

Beltran only made it back to the playoffs once with New York, which lost to St. Louis in the 2006 NLCS. He struck out looking with the bases loaded and the Mets down 3-1 to end Game 7 against the Cardinals.

The Giants are counting on him to bolster a sagging offense hurt by injuries to Buster Posey and Freddy Sanchez. San Francisco was batting .241 with 66 homers and 373 runs, all numbers that ranked toward the bottom of the NL. No player on the roster had more than nine homers. Aubrey Huff was leading the team with 47 RBIs.

The 34-year-old Beltran, who can become a free agent after the season, leads the National League with 30 doubles and is batting .289 with 15 homers and 66 RBIs.

"We lost two really good hitters in the heart of our order, and to have one of the elite players in the game, it just makes sense for us," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's a great fit."

New York's prize in return is Wheeler, who is 7-5 with a 3.99 ERA in 16 starts for San Francisco's high Class-A affiliate in San Jose. The Giants selected the right-hander with the No. 6 pick in the 2009 draft.

"We were looking for big upside," Mets GM Sandy Alderson said. "We could have gotten a package of three players from a number of clubs, but the overall potential of those players would not have equaled Zack's potential."

To make room for Beltran, the Giants sent utilityman Emmanuel Burriss to Triple-A Fresno. Beltran will wear No. 15, which belonged to Bochy. The skipper switched to No. 16.

"I made a joke with him, saying if he wants a watch with diamonds or without diamonds," Beltran said. "I'm still waiting for him at this point. He hasn't responded yet."

Giants general manager Brian Sabean made a handful of risky moves last summer and late in the 2010 season that paid off in a big way. This is another huge splash for baseball's longest-tenured GM.

"When you're defending world champions, you do have to try to defend that title any way you can," Sabean said. "We're in first place. Hopefully we show we mean business. ... Simply put, we're thrilled with bringing Carlos on board. We really felt the organization needed a shot in the arm and more so our lineup."

Last year, the Giants won their first NL West title since 2003, ended a six-year playoff drought and went on to capture an improbable championship -- the franchise's first since moving West in 1958.

"We're at an interesting place in time. We're trying to get back to the playoffs by winning the division, and much like last year taking our chances," Sabean said. "It's timely. Our fans deserve this as well as the team."

Beltran was plagued by knee injuries the past two seasons, but has been healthy this year and is enjoying a strong comeback season.

Once the teams agreed to terms, Beltran had 24 hours to decide whether to waive his no-trade clause. Shortly before New York's 8-2 win at Cincinnati on Wednesday night, he arrived in the clubhouse and told his teammates he was on his way to Philadelphia to join the Giants.

While parting with Wheeler was a tough call, Sabean and his staff weighed dealing a pitcher or a top position player. Wheeler wasn't going to be in the mix at the major league level for a while.

"Carlos is the player that we coveted all along," Sabean said. "As we knew what the price of doing business was there, it became apparent no matter where we turned we were going to take a hit on our prospect list."

That worked out for New York, which has overcome some key injuries to hover around .500 for weeks. But the Mets, who began the day 7½ games out in the NL wild-card race, are looking toward the future.

"Zack was the guy that we focused on," Alderson said. "This is the kind of deal that we had hoped to be able to make at the outset, and when it materialized we didn't have any problem pulling the trigger."

Cain repeats NLCS dominance of Phillies

Chris Haft
MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- The lengthening row of zeros attesting to the Philadelphia Phillies' futility Wednesday night at Citizens Bank Park recalled a different day, another ballpark and the same pitcher.

Matt Cain drew directly from his success against the Phillies in last October's National League Championship Series to deliver a similar performance as the Giants secured a 2-1 victory.

In Cain's last outing against Philadelphia, he surrendered two hits in seven shutout innings in Game 3 of the NLCS at AT&T Park. That helped the Giants triumph, 3-0, giving them a lead in the series that they wouldn't relinquish.

This time, Cain blanked Philadelphia for six innings, yielded an unearned run in the seventh inning and was relieved by Javier Lopez after pinch-hitter Ross Gload opened the eighth by reaching base on catcher's interference.

As it turned out, Cain reread a chapter from his own library of excellence. He explained that he watched Game 3 videos to review how he gained and maintained an advantage against the Phillies' dangerous lineup.

"I definitely think [it helped], being able to look back at that game, try to remember some of the pitches and with the video, to try to help go into the game with some confidence," Cain said.

Characteristically, Cain's confidence never wavered. Nor did his effectiveness. Only three Phillies reached scoring position against him. Though he recorded only one strikeout, he relied on his fastball to make the Phillies hit ineffectual grounders and mostly harmless flies. Cain (9-6) notched 12 outs on ground balls and eight on fly balls.

Cain lost his shutout under frustrating circumstances in the Phillies' half of the seventh. Shane Victorino led off with a popup in front of home plate that catcher Eli Whiteside seemed bound to catch easily. But he didn't hear Cain call for the ball. They both settled under the ball, which went off Cain's glove as he and Whiteside reached for it.

"Miscommunication on both of us," Cain said.

The ball trickled toward the backstop, enabling Victorino to charge to second base. He scored on Domonic Brown's one-out, bad-hop single off first baseman Aubrey Huff's glove. Cain escaped by coaxing Carlos Ruiz's double-play grounder.

That's two lousy breaks Cain encountered, neither of which disturbed him.

"He's a pro," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He keeps his poise out there. That's one of those things that can rattle you a little bit, but he got back on the hill and pitched great. He had a bad hop that inning and still didn't let the game get away."

Cain accepted the ill fortune as part of the job.

"That's just how the game goes at times. Little things are going to come here and there," he said. "You're going to make good pitches and guys are going to get hits. There's errors, things like that. You can't worry about that. It's just part of being-the-starter mentality. You're going to pitch hopefully 200 innings each year. There's going to be little things throughout those innings that's going to happen."

"Little" also described the output of San Francisco's offense, which is expected to receive a boost when right fielder Carlos Beltran, obtained from the New York Mets, makes his anticipated Giants debut Thursday. For one more night, the Giants derived the maximum from the minimum to improve to 28-13 in one-run decisions.

The Giants opened their scoring in the third inning against left-hander Cole Hamels, who began Wednesday tied for the NL lead with 12 wins. Whiteside beat out an infield single and came home on Aaron Rowand's two-out triple.

"I thought it was the right pitch to throw to him. I thought I left it up just a little bit," Hamels said of the 1-1 fastball that Rowand guided into the right-field corner. "When you give up that sort of hit, you know it's extra bases. And with two outs, I just knew from the moment Aaron hit it the guy was pretty much going to score. You don't want to give up the first run, especially with Cain pitching just because it could be the one run that matters."

In fact, the Giants are 38-18 when they score first. Under those circumstances, Whiteside said, "it seems like we play a little bit better. We relax and it gets us going a little bit."

San Francisco added a run in the seventh but squandered a chance for a more fruitful inning. Jeff Keppinger doubled for his first extra-base hit as a Giant. Cody Ross walked and went to third base on Nate Schierholtz's RBI double, a sinking line drive that scooted under Brown's glove in right field. Hamels hit Whiteside to load the bases with nobody out, but Cain popped up and Rowand grounded into a double play.

Wasting the opportunity for more didn't matter. After Lopez rescued Cain by finishing the eighth unscathed, Brian Wilson earned his 32nd save with a perfect ninth inning. The first batter Wilson retired was Ryan Howard, who happened to take a called third strike from the bearded closer for the final out of the NLCS. This time, Howard flied to left field on a 3-2 pitch. Wilson then coaxed two grounders to second base to seal the Giants' 60th victory.

Asked if it was a victory that bore extra meaning under the circumstances, Bochy said, "I would agree with that, playing such a good club and gettting the pitching we got tonight."

Box Score

Surprise starter Zito sunk in first inning

Chris Haft
MLB.com

PHILADELPHIA -- This rematch was anything but a replay.

Last year's National League Championship Series featured drama and tension, with the Giants edging the Philadelphia Phillies three times by one run to secure the pennant in a six-game struggle. By contrast, Tuesday's outcome was essentially settled after the first inning, when the Phillies scored four runs and hit the first of their four homers to overwhelm San Francisco, 7-2.

Some might insist that the game was decided hours before it began, as Tim Lincecum, the Giants' scheduled starter, endured an apparent stomach illness, which forced manager Bruce Bochy to scratch him. Barry Zito replaced Lincecum and absorbed the Phillies' pounding, though the left-hander saved the bullpen by working seven innings.

Vance Worley never gave the Giants a chance to make matters competitive. The rookie right-hander pitched his first Major League complete game, surrendering three hits and retiring 23 of 25 hitters after Andres Torres doubled to open the game.

The Giants don't know when Lincecum will pitch again. Bochy maintained hope that it could be as early as Wednesday, explaining his refusal to name a starter for that game. Matt Cain will face Philadelphia if Lincecum remains weakened.

At least Cain will have more advance notice than Zito, who said that he was told approximately one hour and 45 minutes before game time to get ready. Still, if anybody was mentally equipped to handle an emergency assignment, it was Zito. He not only worked on three days' rest July 2 at Detroit but also pitched four shutout innings after a rain delay of nearly three hours.

Though Zito prefers to stick to particular routines between starts and on days he pitches, he insisted that the sudden command to fill in for Lincecum didn't affect his performance.

"Nothing really changed a whole lot," Zito said, explaining that 90 minutes notice typically suffices for pregame preparation.

But Zito couldn't establish immediate consistency. Then again, pitching on nine days' rest after being skipped in his last turn, steadiness might have eluded him no matter what. He had two outs with nobody on base in the first inning before Chase Utley singled and scored on Ryan Howard's double. Shane Victorino walked, setting up Raul Ibanez's first-pitch homer. Ibanez was batting .221 off lefties at the time.

John Mayberry Jr. added a fourth-inning homer and Utley hustled his way to an inside-the-park homer in the sixth. Howard added an eighth-inning homer off Guillermo Mota.

"I didn't really have anything working until probably the second or third [inning]," Zito said. "I think the difference in the game was that they didn't miss mistakes."

As examples, Zito cited the cutter he dangled for Ibanez and the curveball that didn't fool Mayberry when they homered.

Said Phillies manager Charlie Manuel, "You have to show respect for a team when you got a lead, but at the same time you don't lighten up. You don't take it easy."

Bochy remained mostly upbeat about Zito, who was dropped from last year's postseason rotation and didn't face Philadelphia in the NLCS. The howling among fans for that to happen again could increase if Jonathan Sanchez, recovering from biceps tendinitis, delivers a strong performance in his injury rehabilitation start Wednesday with Triple-A Fresno.

Bochy said of Zito, "It's a shame he couldn't get out of that [first] inning because he regrouped and threw the ball fairly well. It's impressive on his part, not caving in and finding a way to give us innings."

Worley subdued the Giants without overpowering them. He struck out only five and allowed several hard-hit balls, including a pair of line drives by Cody Ross and fly balls from Eli Whiteside and Pablo Sandoval that were caught at the wall.

Ross praised Worley, but not excessively.

"For the most part, his fastball was pretty straight," Ross said. "He located it outstanding, in and out. He had a little cut to it sometimes and was mixing his slider, a few curveballs and some changeups. He pitched very well -- obviously, outstanding. He didn't miss too many spots, that's for sure. That being said, we hit the ball pretty well. We just got unlucky."

Even a more hotly contested game might not have roused the Citizens Bank Park crowd, which seemed surprisingly mellow. Phillies fans turned up the volume on their booing for Ross, the 2010 NLCS Most Valuable Player. But those catcalls weren't fierce.

"I really didn't take much notice to it," Ross said. "I was more worried about putting together a good at-bat than about how they were going to welcome me back."

Box Score

Bumgarner shines in winning pitching duel

Adam Berry
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Before hitting the road to visit the White House and begin a highly anticipated National League Championship Series rematch with the Phillies, the Giants wanted to make sure they focused on taking care of the Brewers, another playoff contender.

Madison Bumgarner did most of the heavy lifting for San Francisco, throwing 7 2/3 innings and scoring a run in his second straight win at home as the Giants beat the Brewers, 2-1, and took the series victory in AT&T Park on Sunday. The lefty gave up a homer to Ryan Braun in the first but calmed down after that despite saying he didn't have his best fastball, striking out eight -- all swinging -- while scattering eight hits and allowing no walks.

"Today was kind of one of those days where I felt like I was having to fight myself," Bumgarner said. "I feel like I did a good job of overcoming that and just making pitches."

As usual, Bumgarner didn't receive much run support, scoring one of those two runs himself. But he made sure Brewers right-hander Yovani Gallardo, who entered the game with the second-most run support in the National League this season, had even less to work with.

"His maturity and poise on the mound is just unbelievable. You don't see that in a whole lot of veteran pitchers, much less in one that's 21 years old," left fielder Brandon Belt said. "It's really nice to see him keep his composure throughout the game no matter what happens."

Bumgarner only threw 93 pitches and likely could have made a run at the first complete game of his career. But manager Bruce Bochy opted to send in right-hander Sergio Romo to face Braun with two outs in the eighth, resulting in a groundout. Closer Brian Wilson sealed the deal with his second straight 1-2-3 inning, saving his 31st game of the season.

Bochy said he thought about leaving Bumgarner on the mound, but he thought the lefty had already done his job and didn't want to risk a late-game mistake against Braun. And it's not like Bochy is hurting for options in the bullpen, which has given up just one run since the All-Star break.

Bochy spoke highly of Bumgarner's ability to pound the strike zone the way he did Sunday and has done throughout his young career. Bumgarner has now gone 19 straight starts with two or fewer walks -- the longest such stretch for the Giants since Juan Marichal accomplished the feat in 21 consecutive starts between July 17, 1970, and April 20, 1971.

Bumgarner said he wasn't aware of the streak. To Bochy, though, it was representative of why Bumgarner has been so successful so early in his career.

"That's one reason why he's up here at a young age. He's obviously very talented, but he throws strikes," Bochy said. "He does a great job of pounding the strike zone with all his pitches. He's just gotten smarter as a pitcher."

Bumgarner even chipped in at the plate in the third inning, launching a double to deep center just over the outstretched glove of Brett Carroll. After Andres Torres flied out, Jeff Keppinger knocked a single to left field, and Bumgarner slid home -- with third-base coach Tim Flannery yelling in his ear the whole way down the third-base line -- to beat the throw and tie the game. The RBI single was Keppinger's first as a Giant.

"I thought he did a marvelous job today, especially at the plate," Wilson said of Bumgarner. "He basically won it himself. We just came in and helped preserve it."

"I think [Bumgarner] understands that it's a long game. He trusts his offense," Belt added. "Even though it's been sporadic for him the entire season, he still trusts us to get a couple runs across, and fortunately, we did."

The Giants took the lead in the fourth. Aubrey Huff hit a high popup toward Brewers third baseman Josh Wilson, who lost the ball in the sun as it landed a few feet away from him. Huff was thrown out at second on Nate Schierholtz's fielder's choice, but Schierholtz beat out the double-play attempt.

With Schierholtz running, Belt stroked a single to right field, putting runners on the corners. Mike Fontenot pushed the tiebreaking run across on a sacrifice fly to deep center field.

"Like their record shows," Brewers manager Ron Roenicke said, "they get in tight ballgames, and they seem to come out ahead."

That run gave the Giants their 27th one-run victory of the season and their 21st series victory -- along with plenty of momentum heading into yet another big week.

"It's very important that we did win today's game," Wilson said. "We always say, 'Let's say you lose the first two games of the series, then the last game's the travel day. Well, you want to have a nice flight.'

"And today, we'll have a nice flight."

Box Score

Bullpen shines again as Giants beat Brewers

Steve Kroner
SFGate/San Francisco Chronicle
Relief pitching has buoyed the Giants all season. Since the All-Star break, the bullpen has gone beyond whatever is better than "buoying."

Five relievers - Santiago Casilla, Jeremy Affeldt, Sergio Romo, Javier Lopez and Brian Wilson - combined for four hitless innings Saturday night as the Giants subdued Milwaukee 4-2 in China Basin.

In the nine games since the break, the relievers have thrown 30 2/3 innings and allowed all of one earned run.

"What they've done, it's been a lot of fun to watch," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "They're saving us so many times, last year, this year. They're all very good. They like pitching with the game on the line."

Wilson needed only five pitches to record the three outs in the ninth to pick up his 30th save. He said much of the relievers' success derives from their manager.

"Bochy uses the guys in the right situations," Wilson said. Bochy "knows our strengths and our weaknesses, and he nailed it once again."

Ryan Vogelsong was the beneficiary of the bullpen's work Saturday. He gave up two runs on seven hits in five innings as his record improved to 8-1.

Vogelsong joined the chorus of praising the relievers.

"They were great tonight," he said. "Every single one of them threw the ball great. They won the game for us.

"I really didn't have much to do with it."

The Brewers' baserunning had a lot to do with the outcome. In the fourth and fifth innings, three of Milwaukee's five outs came on the basepaths - and two of those three outs would have to be termed boneheaded mistakes by the Brewers.

With Milwaukee up 1-0 with one out in the fourth, Casey McGehee singled to left. Rickie Weeks tried to score from second, but Cody Ross' throw to Chris Stewart at the plate cut down Weeks.

There was nothing boneheaded about that play. Later in the inning, though, the Brewers committed the first of their two head-scratching mistakes.

With runners at the corners and George Kottaras at the plate, Yuniesky Betancourt tried to steal second. McGehee then became the victim of a play that rarely works, even in Little League.

Stewart faked a throw to second, which induced McGehee to break for the plate, which enabled Stewart to end the inning by easily tagging out McGehee between third and home.

Stewart said he couldn't remember the last time that play had worked for him.

Then with Ryan Braun at the plate with two outs and the scored tied 2-2 in the fifth, Nyjer Morgan broke for third on a ball that Stewart blocked in front of the plate.

Stewart's throw to Pablo Sandoval nailed Morgan, meaning Braun and his 67 RBIs would lead off the sixth.

By that time, the Giants had taken the lead for good. Aubrey Huff's sacrifice fly off Randy Wolf gave the Giants a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the fifth.

Wolf's lifetime marks against the Giants before Saturday: 9-5 with a 2.77 ERA. He took the loss and dropped to 6-8 this season.

Nate Schierholtz collected three of the seven hits the lefty allowed in his six innings. Schierholtz, who poked a two-run double in the fourth, came into Saturday hitting .186 (8-for-43) against left-handers this season.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants open tough stretch with loss to Milwaukee Brewers

Carl Steward
Mercury News

The Giants stumbled into a crucial stretch against contending teams Friday night in a 4-2 loss in which the Milwaukee Brewers provided almost all of the excitement.

The Brewers scored three early runs against starter Matt Cain with good two-strike hitting, took advantage of some Giants juggles in the field and also got the most noise out of a sellout AT&T Park crowd when center fielder Nyjer Morgan got in an animated give-and-take with fans in the bleachers.

Morgan, who was born in San Francisco and grew up in San Jose, woke up the crowd of 42,297 after making a terrific running catch against the wall on a fly ball hit by Nate Schierholtz in the seventh inning.

Morgan got in a jawing match with fans in the bleachers and subsequently appeared to make an obscene gesture at them. At the end of the inning, when fans along the first-base line booed him as well, he made a few more gestures before bouncing into the dugout.

So what was going on out there?

"It was just fans being fans, and me being an entertainer," said the fleet, hyperactive Morgan, who subsequently identified himself as his self-proclaimed alter-ego, Tony Plush.

Morgan -- or Plush, if you prefer -- refused to admit or deny that he made an obscene gesture.

"Whatever you think you saw, that's what it was," he said. "Write about the win."

Morgan made a few nice catches in a game that the Brewers almost seemed blessed to win. The big two-RBI hit in a three-run second was a ball No. 8 hitter Jonathan Lucroy almost golfed off the ground. And to add insult to that, left fielder Cody Ross made a perfect throw to home plate that should have nailed the trailing runner. Instead, the ball skidded off the grass and under catcher Eli Whiteside's glove.

"I thought it was going to be a fairly close play, so I didn't want to give up too much ground or give up my position at the plate," Whiteside said. "I kind of gambled on taking it in between hops right there, and it didn't work out."

Earlier, Pablo Sandoval briefly juggled a hard shot and failed to turn a double play against Casey McGehee, who eventually scored on Lucroy's hit. All of the Brewers' run-scoring hits in the second inning came with two strikes, as did their run in the sixth.

Cain (8-6) said he felt good but was obviously upset by the Lucroy hit that gave the Brewers their second and third runs.

"You can't really do a whole lot when you throw it in the dirt, and the guy still hits it," Cain said. "But those guys can definitely swing it, and they can run as well."

The Brewers, locked in a tight divisional battle with Pittsburgh, St. Louis and Cincinnati, took over the lead in the N.L. Central with their victory. The Giants, despite their loss, maintained a four-game cushion in the N.L. West with Colorado's victory at Arizona.

It was nonetheless an ominous start to this important stretch of games in which the Giants will play 16 of their next 19 games against winning teams -- two against the Brewers, seven against N.L. East leader Philadelphia, three against the team chasing San Francisco, the Diamondbacks, and three against the Pirates.

"We've been playing well since the break," manager Bruce Bochy said. "But we were off a little bit tonight. We didn't hit much, there were plays we didn't quite come up with, and that's the difference in the game. When you don't execute or swing the bats against a good team, you're probably going to get beat."

Box Score

Lincecum bested in duel with Dodgers' Kershaw

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- Tim Lincecum, who's widely regarded as the Giants' ace, has inadvertently strengthened his grip on a dual distinction: hard-luck pitcher.

The Giants have been shut out eight times in Lincecum's 21 starts this season. He endured this fate most recently Wednesday, when the Los Angeles Dodgers handed him his first career 1-0 defeat.

Dioner Navarro's seventh-inning leadoff homer denied the Giants a three-game series sweep and prevented them from extending their winning streak against the Dodgers to seven games for the first time since the franchises moved west in 1958.

With Clayton Kershaw pitching, a single run was all Los Angeles needed. Kershaw's 1.41 ERA against the Giants is the lowest ever by any pitcher who has accumulated at least 50 innings against them. The All-Star left-hander allowed three hits in eight innings and struck out the side in the sixth and eighth innings en route to finishing with 12 strikeouts.

San Francisco moved four runners into scoring position against Kershaw -- all but one resulting from errors and never with less than two outs. In short, the Giants didn't generate much genuine offense.

Nor did the Dodgers. They went 0-for-13 with runners in scoring position, including 0-for-9 off Lincecum, who allowed five hits and struck out seven in seven innings. The Giants are accustomed to winning when Lincecum performs so stubbornly. Instead, they, and he, are increasingly sharing the frustration that at various times seemed exclusive to Matt Cain, Barry Zito and Madison Bumgarner.

"It [stinks] to have Tim lose a game where he gives up one run and goes that deep in the game," infielder Emmanuel Burriss said. "He pitched wonderful. It's heartbreaking for everybody in here to know that we didn't come through for him. He did a great job. He didn't deserve to get a loss today. But neither did Kershaw."

Kershaw might have faced more of a challenge had the Giants' lineup been at full strength. But third baseman Pablo Sandoval was nursing a sore right quadriceps muscle and didn't start. Nate Schierholtz, who recently has emerged as San Francisco's cleanup hitter, also was rested. Schierholtz bats left-handed, and Kershaw had limited opposing lefties to a .181 batting average entering the game. Not surprisingly, when Schierholtz pinch-hit against Kershaw in the eighth inning, he lined a vicious foul ball while working the count full before striking out.

This game mirrored Opening Night at Dodger Stadium, where both protagonists lasted seven taut innings. Lincecum yielded an unearned run while Kershaw blanked San Francisco. Los Angeles ultimately won, 2-1.

"I try to pitch a good game whenever I get the ball," Kershaw said. "If you want to write a cool story about the matchup, go ahead."

Lincecum sounded as if he were discussing himself in praising Kershaw.

"Clayton's ridiculously good," Lincecum said. "I don't think he's reached his potential, just from watching him. He's mixing up different pitches. Sometimes he'll come at us with a 90-mile-an-hour slider, like the last time I faced him. This time he was using an 83-mile-an-hour pitch. You can never really get the same gauge off of what he's going to throw. He's got that really live, power fastball that carries well through the zone. It makes it hard to make good contact off of him."

Burriss singled sharply off Kershaw (11-4) in the second inning, but that was the extent of his success.

"The last thing you want to do is get him in a rhythm, which he found kind of early, it seemed like," Burriss said.

Chris Stewart had San Francisco's other two hits but remained modest about his achievement.

"I think he just hit my bat two times and the ball just fell in," Stewart said.

Stewart had a front-row seat as Navarro, who had never faced Lincecum before this game, drove a 1-0 fastball over the right-field wall and into San Francisco Bay for his third home run of the season.

The fateful pitch to Navarro, who was batting .195 at the time, was supposed to be low and outside.

"We thought we'd change his eye level a little bit," Stewart said, noting that the previous pitch was a curveball.

"It was just a mistake," Lincecum said. "Enough said, I guess."

Though the Giants had three more at-bats, Navarro's drive generated a sense of finality, given Kershaw's dominance.

"You know it's going to be a close game, so you have to be on top of yours, and I flinched first, so ... rough," Lincecum said.

Box Score

Belt backs Bumgarner in Giants' victory

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN FRANCISCO -- The big-time hitter the Giants have been craving showed up Tuesday night at AT&T Park.

It wasn't Carlos Beltran, who remained with the New York Mets. It wasn't Willie McCovey or Will Clark, who were both on the premises but finished terrorizing opponents decades ago.

No, the impact hitter who helped the Giants subdue the Los Angeles Dodgers, 5-3, didn't arrive by trade or the wayback machine. It was somebody who was expected all along to bolster San Francisco's offense this year: Brandon Belt.

Belt celebrated his return to the Major Leagues by homering and driving in three runs, including two with a bases-loaded, tiebreaking double in seventh inning.

Whether Belt can come close to sustaining this production remains to be seen. The 23-year-old rookie, San Francisco's most prized position-player prospect, hit only .211 in his previous two tours of duty with the Giants.

But the Giants insist that Belt has gained the self-assurance he needs to cope with the challenges of the Majors. Manager Bruce Bochy said that Belt proved this not with anything he did between the foul lines, but with his good-natured response to teasing about his final game for Triple-A Fresno before being recalled. Belt struck out four times, yet the Giants recalled him to fill in for first baseman Aubrey Huff, who's enduring back woes.

Belt's inglorious farewell appearance with Fresno prompted Clark, making one of his periodic visits as a special assistant, and even Bochy to insist that he surely was the only player in history to receive a big league promotion after such a dismal performance.

"He was laughing about it," Bochy said. "That's the sign of some confidence."

Said Belt, "I think normally it definitely would do a lot of damage to my confidence. But I've been feeling good the past couple of weeks. I tried to make sure it didn't get my confidence down too much. I wanted to come out here, be aggressive and take my hacks."

That he did. Dodgers starter Rubby De La Rosa wowed all witnesses at the outset by reaching 100 mph with his fastball and flinging wicked-looking breaking pitches at 90 mph. But Belt proved that De La Rosa was vulnerable by driving a 91-mph delivery onto the right-field arcade to lead off the second inning. It was Belt's second homer as a Giant -- both against Los Angeles.

Belt generated more excitement -- and offense -- with the score deadlocked, 3-3, in the seventh inning.

Andres Torres, batting only .103 (3-for-28) off left-handers, drilled a leadoff double against Dodgers southpaw Hong-Chih Kuo. Torres advanced to third on Mike Fontenot's sacrifice bunt and waited there as Pablo Sandoval drew an intentional walk and was replaced by pinch-runner Emmanuel Burriss, who stole second base while drawing a pickoff throw. In the vast majority of such situations, runners trapped in that fashion would be thrown out. But Burriss reached second base safely with a headfirst slide underneath first baseman James Loney's high relay.

"That's an out we can get," Dodgers manager Don Mattingly said. "It's not quite a catch-and-throw with a tie game, a runner at third, and James has got to peek. It's still a big out we don't get."

That prompted a two-out intentional walk to Cody Ross that loaded the bases but set up a potential force play at all of them. Belt defied the lefty-versus-lefty percentages by lining Kuo's first pitch inside the left-field line to score Torres and Burriss.

Bochy said that he had faith in Belt's ability to produce.

"Brandon gives you a good at-bat. He has discipline up there and, more than likely, he's going to put the ball in play," Bochy said. "The thing I liked about him, he was aggressive. That's always a good sign for a young kid. Sometimes they're a little tentative, but he wasn't."

That made a winner of Madison Bumgarner (5-9), who lasted eight innings and surrendered three runs and four hits -- all in the third inning. Receiving more than three runs of support for the first time in a home game, Bumgarner retired the final 16 batters he faced.

Bumgarner believed that the pitches he threw in the third inning were just as good as the pitches he threw in the other seven innings, which all were perfect.

"I felt just as strong at the end as I did early on, which was nice," he said.

The Giants lengthened their National League West lead over second-place Arizona to 4 1/2 games and extended their winning streak against Los Angeles to six games, their longest since July 19-Sept. 26, 1969.

The only unwelcome development for the Giants was the discomfort that Sandoval felt in his right quadriceps muscle, which forced the third baseman's departure in the seventh inning. Sandoval aggravated his quad in the fifth inning while sliding into second base but stayed in the game long enough to make a nice diving stop of Aaron Miles' sharp grounder leading off the seventh. Sandoval also contributed his 16th RBI of the month with a fifth-inning single that erased Los Angeles' 3-2 lead.

Box Score

inShare San Francisco Giants shut out Los Angeles Dodgers

Carl Steward
Mercury News

With Pablo Sandoval and Nate Schierholtz leading the way, the heart of the Giants' batting order is finally starting to show some vibrant thump.

Sandoval went 3 for 4, including a monster homer to break a scoreless tie in the fourth inning, and Schierholtz was 2 for 4 with the first run-scoring hit in a four-run sixth as the Giants whipped the Los Angeles Dodgers 5-0 at AT&T Park on Monday night.

"You've having fun when you're swinging the bat well," said Sandoval after a brilliant night in the field and at the plate. "If we keep doing like that, we're going to have fun every day."

Ryan Vogelsong (7-1) was the benefactor of San Francisco's rare night of robust offensive fun, even if he didn't need so much. In making his first post-All-Star start, the Giants rotation's Lazarus picked up where he left off from his stellar first half. The right-hander tossed 62/3 shutout innings, limited the Dodgers to seven hits and solidified his position as the National League's ERA leader at 2.02.

Vogelsong's continued excellence is no longer so surprising, but the possible revival of the Giants' offense may be. They've scored four or more runs in five of their past six games, and that's a positive sign for a team that is 35-6 when it puts at least four runs on the board.

"We're not going to score 10 runs a game, but we should be able to score five," Sandoval said. "That's important, because we have a great pitching staff and we shouldn't have so many one- and two-run games. If we can get a couple guys going, we can do some damage."

At least of late, Sandoval and Schierholtz have been giving the Giants some respectable anchors in the middle of their order, and their five hits played a huge part in beating a former nemesis, Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley (8-8). Sandoval has had a rough time with Billingsley historically (6 for 33, .182 lifetime with no homers coming into Monday night), but he was no mystery to him on this night.

Change of approach, perhaps? No, Sandoval maintained.

"See ball, hit ball, that's what I've been doing these last couple games," he said. "I don't worry about approach."

Sandoval definitely saw the pitch Billingsley offered up to open the bottom of the fourth. He launched his ninth homer into the pavilion in right-center, one of the deepest parts of the ballpark.

As good as Sandoval has been at the plate, he was just as good at third base in this game, making several nice stops: notably a backhand pick of a Matt Kemp stinging grounder in the sixth with runners at first and second and nobody out. Sandoval not only snared the ball, he made a strong throw to second baseman Mike Fontenot, who turned a double play.

"Sandoval, since he's been back (from hand surgery), has just played a terrific third base," said manager Bruce Bochy. "Range, coming in on the ball, he's throwing the ball well. I just love the way he's playing defensively."

As for Vogelsong, he made his first second-half statement that he was a worthy All-Star pick. While he could care less about his league-leading ERA, if it validates Bochy's faith in picking him for the N.L. team, he'll be happy to take the numbers as low as he possibly can.

"It's important for me to prove him right," Vogelsong said. "(Critics) can say whatever they want to say, it doesn't bother me one bit. But he stuck his neck out to pick me, so I want to show people he made a good decision."

Vogelsong had some control issues in his previous three starts but studied film during the break and noticed a flaw in his mechanics that helped him get back to form. He walked just one against the Dodgers while striking out five.

Infielder Miguel Tejada left the game after suffering a lower-abdominal strain while making a fielding play in the third inning. Catcher Chris Stewart left in the sixth after getting hit in the back of the head by Aaron Miles' bat.

Box Score

San Francisco Giants beat San Diego Padres on squeeze play in 11th inning

Andrew Baggarly
Mercury News

SAN DIEGO -- Giants manager Bruce Bochy was not surprised to learn that the Giants' six stolen bases Sunday tied the San Francisco-era franchise record.

"Yeah! Watch out!" he said, heavy on the sarcasm. "We're not that type of club, but we should be able to steal more bases. We're working on other ways to get runs across."

The Giants worked it to perfection in the 11th inning, scoring the tiebreaking run on a suicide squeeze for a 4-3 victory over the San Diego Padres. Emmanuel Burriss raced home on catcher Chris Stewart's bunt, enabling the Giants to dash out of Petco Park having won three of four.

As endings go, it sure beats penalty kicks.

Stewart made an impact in the bottom of the 11th, too. After Brian Wilson walked the first two batters, Stewart sprang from behind the plate to field Kyle Phillips' sacrifice-bunt try and throw on target to third. Pablo Sandoval, not satisfied to record one out, threw a bullet across the diamond to double up Phillips.

"A tiny momentum shift," said Wilson, also heavy on the sarcasm. "I'm never picky about how we win, and that was pretty phenomenal."

Wilson remarked that the six stolen bases are "not something I've seen us do very often." That's because the bearded wonder was a smooth-cheeked kindergartner on Sept. 8, 1987, the last time it happened. Kevin Mitchell stole three, Dave Henderson stole two, and Chris Speier had one against the Houston Astros.

And this time?had one of 'em," catcher Eli Whiteside said. "Well, I'll be damned."

It was a back-and-forth game, if not a classic. Or, as Bochy put it, "It's one of those games you look back and say, 'All's well that ends well.' We certainly made a couple mistakes out there."

Whiteside made the biggest in the sixth inning as the Padres took a 3-2 lead on Orlando Hudson's two-run single. The rally began when Everth Cabrera struck out but reached first base on Matt Cain's pitch in the dirt that Whiteside secured. The catcher said he thought Cabrera foul-tipped the pitch, which is why he turned to show the baseball to plate umpire Marvin Hudson instead of throwing to first.

"We were helpless. We were yelling as loud as we could to throw to first base," Bochy said. "No question, you know how hard he would've taken this. He was really hard on himself when he realized what happened."

Said Whiteside: "It didn't end up the way it should have. I should've thrown it no matter what. That did hurt us, but I'm just glad it didn't cost us the game."

Whiteside took charge of his own redemption after reaching base in the seventh. He noted that Mat Latos, the heel of last year's N.L. West soap opera, was slow to the plate. So Whiteside stole second base and positioned himself to score the tying run on Andres Torres' single up the middle.

A half-dozen players mentioned it: The Padres play the thief and eke out runs all the time. Why can't the Giants do it, too?

"That was beautiful -- awesome to watch guys get those jumps," said Cain, who struck out nine in six innings. "It's something as an offense we could keep doing."

Burriss started the rally with a one-out single off Chad Qualls. The Padres, sensing the speedy infielder would run, pitched out on the 0-1 delivery to Stewart. It didn't matter. Burriss had the base stolen easily and went to third when Phillips' throw sailed into center field.

With the squeeze play an obvious call, the Padres pitched out again. But there was nothing on. With the count now 2-1, Bochy sprang the trap, and Stewart executed it perfectly.

"We had the right guy up there to get a bunt down, and we had speed at third," Bochy said. "At that point, it's a good play. If they pitch out, they've got you. If they don't, they can't defend it."

Nate Schierholtz and Burriss each stole two bases -- the first time all season a Giant had multiple steals in a game.

Box Score

Zito battered in loss to Padres

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- Barry Zito's recent excellence enabled the Giants to dismiss his ineffectiveness Saturday night as an aberration.

But Zito's slightly more distant past prompts the lingering, nagging thought that his performance in San Francisco's 11-3 loss to the San Diego Padres marked the resumption of a familiar pattern -- the one that has saddled him with a 43-59 record as a Giant.

The Zito who survived only 3 2/3 innings and allowed eight runs, his most since he surrendered nine last Aug. 28 against Arizona, wasn't the Zito who won each of his last three starts since returning from a foot injury.

The Zito who struggled at PETCO Park surrendered a three-run, first-inning homer to Jesus Guzman, matching the number of runs the left-hander allowed in his three-game stretch of dominance.

The Zito who presided over the end of the Giants' four-game winning streak permitted two home runs and issued four walks, which also equaled his yield in those categories from his previous three games.

Manager Bruce Bochy calmly excused Zito's performance. Asked if he considered it an exception rather than the rule, Bochy said, "Yeah, that's how I'm looking at it. Hopefully that's how he looks at it, and all of us. He's been doing such a great job."

Zito (3-2) also coped with his lapse by viewing this as an isolated event.

"It's back to day-to-day tomorrow," he said.

Zito demonstrated immediately that this day wouldn't belong to him. When pitching coach Dave Righetti visited him at the mound two pitches before Guzman deposited a cut fastball into the first row of the left-field seats, Zito had thrown only four strikes in 18 pitches while walking two Padres.

Citing that ratio, Bochy said, "You know that it's not his night. But you're hoping he figures a way to get things done. It didn't quite happen."

Zito summarized his problems with one word: execution.

"When you execute pitches, guys miss the barrel [of the bat]," he said. "You fall behind [on the count] by not executing and things get a little more difficult out there. It was difficult to get the ball down tonight. For the most part, the curveball didn't have the finish down. The changeup, either."

This was apparent to the Padres, who snapped a seven-game losing streak.

"Early, he was having a little command issue and we took advantage of his mistakes, which you've got to do against the good ones," center fielder Cameron Maybin said.

Guzman's homer snapped San Diego's skid of 70 innings in a row without scoring multiple runs. But the Padres weren't finished. With one out in the third inning, San Diego's Jason Bartlett hit a routine grounder to Aubrey Huff but beat the first baseman's flip to Zito, who covered the bag.

Bochy hinted that Zito could have handled the play more efficiently.

"It looked like [Zito] got a good break, but the hitter got out of the box well and beat him to the bag," Bochy said. "It was close, I know. But it looked like Z might have slowed up the last four or five steps, thinking that he had him.

Zito then walked Chris Denorfia and yielded Guzman's two-out RBI single before Orlando Hudson homered, widening San Diego's lead to 7-1. Hudson's long ball also ended the Padres' stretch of 56 consecutive games without homering more than once, seven short of the club record. It was the longest such stretch in the Major Leagues since the 1983 Cleveland Indians went 63 games without multiple homers.

Guzman, who briefly played for the Giants in 2009, left the premises before reporters could speak to him. So it wasn't immediately known whether he derived extra satisfaction from driving in a career-high four runs against a former employer.

Giants center fielder Andres Torres wasn't surprised to see such a hitting display from his '09 Spring Training roommate, whose career Minor League batting average exceeds .300.

"He's always been a good hitter," Torres said. "You see his numbers. No doubt he can hit. He's got the chance. Now he's taking advantage of it and working hard."

Pablo Sandoval tripled and scored in the fourth inning and Miguel Tejada homered in the sixth to account for the Giants' scoring off San Diego starter Cory Luebke (3-3). Mike Fontenot added an RBI double off Luke Gregerson in the ninth.

Box Score

Torres leads Giants, Lincecum to victory

Chris Haft
MLB.com

SAN DIEGO -- If you never saw Willie Mays play, just review the Giants' 6-1 victory Friday night over the San Diego Padres, in which Andres Torres delivered a nice impersonation of his famed center-field predecessor.

Torres did everything within his powers to help the Giants win their fourth game in a row. He went 3-for-4, collected two RBIs, stole a base and employed impeccable timing to score one of the three runs he tallied.

Torres contributed more than offense. In the fourth inning, with two on, two outs and San Francisco clinging to a 2-1 lead, Torres overtook Kyle Phillips' drive, hauled it in a step and a half in front of the center-field wall and held onto the ball despite colliding roughly with the barrier.

Saved from surrendering a two-run double, Tim Lincecum worked two more innings, striking out three in that span. Lincecum expressed sincere appreciation for Torres' assistance.

"If anybody could [run down that ball], I think it's him," Lincecum said. "Luckily, this park kind of kills the ball for you whenever it's hit to that part. Torres was just fast enough to run it down and make a great play on it. Saved my butt, actually."

Despite throwing three wild pitches, Lincecum (8-7) remained mostly in control. A 27-pitch first inning, which ended with a pair of stranded baserunners, inflated his pitch count and hastened his departure after six innings.

"I took myself a dirt road," Lincecum said.

The right-hander still struck out seven while yielding just one run and three hits.

"His command was a little bit off, but the secondary stuff was good," Padres manager Bud Black said. "He wasn't as crisp as we've seen him in the past, but still nevertheless, it's good stuff, it's competitive stuff. Each and every pitch he's coming at you with deception."

The Giants had averaged 1.1 runs for Lincecum while he was in the game during his previous seven starts. This time was different, largely due to Torres.

He singled and scored in the first inning, reaching third on Mike Fontenot's hit-and-run single despite slipping after passing second base. Pablo Sandoval, salvaging the evening in which his hitting streak ended at 22 games, sent home Torres with a sacrifice fly.

After Cody Ross homered leading off the second inning against Padres starter Dustin Moseley (2-9), Torres went back to work. He lined an RBI single, stole a base and scored again in the fifth -- an artful example of baserunning, as he dashed in from third while Fontenot was being thrown out at second base on a steal attempt.

Torres continued his big night against reliever Ernesto Frieri in the seventh inning, hitting the second of back-to-back doubles to drive in Aaron Rowand before scoring on a wild pitch.

Torres entered the game batting only .224, far below the .268 average he posted last year. His all-around excellence reminded the Giants of his potential as an offensive asset as they climbed a season-high 14 games above .500 (54-40) and inched 4 1/2 games ahead of second-place Arizona in the National League West -- the largest advantage held by any of the six division leaders.

"That's the way you win ballgames, if you get your leadoff guy going," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "That's a game he should feel good about and get his confidence going."

Perpetually his own harshest critic -- "Sometimes I overthink about hitting," he said -- Torres arrived early at PETCO Park for a tutorial with hitting coach Hensley Meulens. Torres worked on moving his hands more efficiently to get them into proper hitting position as the pitch approaches. The extra work proved beneficial.

"I was having trouble hitting tough pitches and getting to the ball," Torres said. "Today I felt better and went out there and performed."

Box Score

Giants beat Padres 6-2 in 12 innings

Andrew Baggarly
MercuryNews

SAN DIEGO - Pablo Sandoval wasted no time. He needed just one pitch in the first inning to extend his hitting streak to 22 games - the longest by a Giant in 33 years.

But these are the Giants. They don't kill the suspense. They create it.

And in the end, after Aubrey Huff rescued them from a shutout loss with an ultra clutch home run in the ninth inning and Mike Fontenot's bases-loaded walk put them ahead in the 12th, Sandoval was there, too.

The Panda's two-run single off Luke Gregerson finally broke open a game that had been tighter than Brian Wilson's Spandex tuxedo, and the Giants took a 6-2 victory over the San Diego Padres in front of an orange-splashed crowd at Petco Park.

In the first game back after the All-Star break, it took 11 medieval innings before the Giants found the second-half hitting renaissance they sought. But they only survived that far because of stout relief work and Huff, who rediscovered his home run swing at a most improbable time.

His solo shot was his first since his three-homer game June 2 at St. Louis, breaking a drought of 125 at-bats. And that wasn't the most remarkable part.

Bell hadn't allowed a home run all season. He only allowed one in 2010 - when the Giants' Juan Uribe took him deep on April 19. Bell's 15-month homerless streak consisted of 102 innings over 99 games - both franchise records.

Huff's shot came on an 0-2 pitch, too. Huff had fouled off a pair of fastballs with two strikes before Bell tried to sneak a curveball past him. Huff, who had chased so many bad pitches in a miserable first half, kept his hands back and lofted it into the seats just inside the right field pole.

Madison Bumgarner held the Padres to a run in six innings and the Giants bullpen was heroic yet again, as Ramon Ramirez, Sergio Romo and Jose Casilla combined for five scoreless.

But the Giants still needed one more clutch hit, and it seemed they would never get it. Even when they loaded the bases in the 12th on two walks and an error, pinch hitter Miguel Tejada fouled out and Andres Torres struck out.

But the Giants have no shame when it comes to scoring runs. This is the team that beat the Cleveland Indians 1-0 on a balk. So they happily accepted Gregerson's four misses to Fontenot to drive in a run.

Sandoval followed with his single to left field and the Giants ended up batting around.

Much earlier, Sandoval, who hit a run-scoring double in the All-Star Game, ended all suspense over whether he could carry his hitting streak through the break. He rapped the first pitch into right field, tying him with Willie McCovey (in 1959) for the fourth longest streak in the club's San Francisco era.

Jack Clark's 26-game streak in 1978 is the club record. McCovey had a 24-game run in 1963 and Willie Mays hit in 23 consecutive from 1959-60.

The offensive outburst came far too late for Bumgarner, who posted his 13th quality start in 19 outings to match Matt Cain for the team lead. Yet his record remained an impressive 4-9.

The simple reason: Bumgarner entered with the second lowest run support among all NL starters. The Giants had scored an average of 0.82 runs for him in his nine losses.

Bumgarner came out throwing strikes yet again, but two-out singles continued to plague him and he might have been too aggressive in a key spot in the third inning.

Chris Denorfia and Jason Bartlett singled to put runners at the corners, and rather than pitch around the dangerous Chase Headley, a .556 hitter against left-handers in his last 20 games, Bumgarner left a sinker over the plate that resulted in a single through the left side.

That was the game's only run until Bell entered the game in the ninth - and to the exhalation of groundskeepers, he did not replicate his sliding entrance to the mound from the All-Star Game.

Even after the Giants' five-run rally, there was intrigue. Javier Lopez loaded the bases and Manager Bruce Bochy went to Wilson, who had warmed up for the fourth time. The Padres scored a run on a sacrifice fly before Wilson saved it.

As for that tuxedo that Wilson wore to the ESPY Awards? It continued to be the talk among players and coaches. Bochy did a double-take when shown a photo of Wilson wearing the skin-tight costume, complete with gloves, red socks, high tops and multiple wristwatches.

"Ohhh jeez," Bochy said. "He looks like a Batman character."

The Giants and bat men. What a concept.

Box Score