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.
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