Andrew Baggarly - MercuryNews
The Giants were guaranteed a winning trip before the first pitch Thursday, but the last thing they wanted was to be swept at Coors Field before returning home.
After a 10-7 victory over the Colorado Rockies, the Giants were cutting loose and pulling pranks as if they'd just reeled off a perfect trip. Ray Durham received most of the attention, including a beer shower, after collecting his 2,000th hit.
The rest of the club celebrated a 5-2 trip and an offensive burst that had many fingerprints. Each starter except catcher Steve Holm had a hit; pitcher Jonathan Sanchez had two, and drove in the first run of the game - a big deal after the club was shut out the previous day.
Sanchez (6-3) needed all the support he could muster. He allowed seven runs, limped to complete five innings and qualified for the win only because Manager Bruce Bochy showed uncommon faith in him.
Sanchez became the first Giants pitcher in eight years to give up at least seven runs and win. Russ Ortiz allowed 10 runs in a 16-10 victory over Milwaukee on May 21, 2000.
"Nothing was working for me," Sanchez said. "I was wild all day. My ball wasn't moving at all. My slider was spinning, my sinker didn't work and my fastball was up."
Holm told Sanchez, in so many words, to throw it over the plate and say a little prayer. It worked, which shouldn't be a surprise. Everything seems to be working out for Sanchez this season.
Even though Tim Lincecum has been so spectacular that he could start the All-Star Game, the Giants have a better record when Sanchez is on the mound. They improved to 11-3 in Sanchez's games; they are 10-4 when Lincecum pitches.
But Sanchez nearly blew an 8-4 lead in the fifth, after Garrett Atkins hit a three-run double. Sanchez issued a two-out walk to Omar Quintanilla, but Bochy let him have one more batter and the left-hander struck out pinch hitter Ian Stewart to strand two runners.
"I just thought he had pretty good stuff," Bochy said. "He deserved a shot at that win."
Fred Lewis hit a three-run home run as part of a four-run second inning, and Rich Aurilia's two-run single in the seventh broke open a one-run game.
Durham had the most memorable contribution, sending a liner up the middle for a two-run single in the fourth. He immediately called for the ball, aware that he reached a milestone.
He became the 22nd second baseman in major league history to reach 2,000 hits.
"It wasn't the ninth inning against a guy in there to mop up," Durham said. "It was a meaningful hit."
Durham said he planned to give the ball to his mother, Alberta Patrick, who watches every Giants game from her home in Charlotte, N.C. As he spoke, Durham noticed she had left a text message.
"Gotta call her," he said. "She lives and dies with every at-bat. I'm glad she wasn't in the stands. She might have been on the field."
Durham's teammates showed their appreciation too, choreographing their shower ambush for just the right moment.
"That's saying something," Durham said with a laugh. "You've done something when you get a beer shower from your fellow teammates."
Most folks didn't expect anything from Durham this season, declaring him legally dead as a player after he hit a career-worst .218 last year. He is batting .405 in 11 games this month, upping his season average to .305.
"Ray's really been hitting and getting on base, and it's nice to see because everybody wrote him off," Aurilia said. "And you know what? Sometimes people have a bad year."
Said Durham: "I don't know about writing me off. Maybe more of wondering what happened. Of course, I was too. That's the game of baseball. You can be terrible one year and come back the next year and redeem yourself."
Keiichi Yabu found his redemption after a rough outing Wednesday, when he took the loss. He entered a bases-loaded situation and slipped a called third strike past Ryan Spilborghs to end the seventh.
Billy Sadler also impressed, striking out four over 1 2/3 innings. He has retired 17 of the past 19 batters he has faced.
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