Offense struggles as Giants go young

Laurence Miedema - MercuryNews

The Giants turned things over to the kids Saturday afternoon.

With most of the regulars getting a day off after a 13-inning marathon the previous night, the Giants trotted out a lineup that included five rookies and second-year left fielder Fred Lewis against the San Diego Padres at AT&T Park.

The young lineup managed just six hits - two by rookie shortstop Emmanuel Burriss - and were an out away from being shut out before veteran Aaron Rowand's RBI single in the ninth inning in a 5-1 loss to the Padres.

"Every game is a learning experience, win or lose, success or failure," said right fielder Randy Winn, the most experienced Giant in Saturday's lineup. "That's how you learn. That's the way I learned. You get thrown into the fire."

The Giants were hoping for a youthful spark after a frustrating loss to the Padres less than 24 hours earlier.

But they couldn't recover from a deflating four-run Padres first inning, and a lineup that was without Bengie Molina, Rich Aurilia, Ray Durham and Omar Vizquel couldn't solve Padres rookie right-hander Josh Banks.

"You always look flat when you don't hit," Manager Bruce Bochy said. "We just couldn't figure him out."

Banks, who was released by the Toronto Blue Jays in April, allowed just an unearned run and has not allowed an earned run in 17 innings since joining the Padres. He was was helped out at times by the young Giants hitters. Rookies John Bowker, Travis Denker and Steve Holm were a combined 1 for 10, and Lewis was 0 for 4 and struck out three times.

"I think we maybe got a little overaggressive at times," Bowker said. "We need to be a little more patient."

The Giants, still reeling from a 13th-inning collapse in a 7-3 loss to the Padres on Friday night, had little time to relax because they spent all of Saturday playing catch-up.

Rookie left-hander Pat Misch immediately found himself in trouble when third baseman Jose Castillo made a bad throw on Scott Hairston's leadoff grounder. The miscue opened the door for the first five Padres to reach base.

The Giants trailed 4-0 before they recorded two outs.

"The first inning killed us, no question about it," Bochy said. "The damage was done."

Misch (0-2) did a good job of limiting the damage. He worked through trouble for most of his 6 1/3 innings but didn't allow another run until the seventh inning.

The loss continued a frustrating trend for Misch and the Giants, who are 0-6 in his starts.

"You have to keep battling every time you go out there," said Misch, who allowed four earned runs and seven hits, walked three and hit a batter. "You can't throw in the towel."

Misch's hold on the No. 5 spot in the rotation appears safe for now. Right-hander Kevin Correia, who has been sidelined by an oblique strain, appears about a week away from rejoining the rotation. He allowed one hit in 3 1/3 innings in a rehab appearance Friday with Class-A San Jose and is scheduled to throw at least 70 pitches Tuesday with Triple-A Fresno.

"If all goes well and he gets his work in, we'll decide if he gets one more start or activate him here," Bochy said of Correia.

The Giants' suddenly ice-cold offense didn't give Misch much margin for error. Padres pitchers had retired 24 consecutive Giants, going back to the eighth inning Friday, before Burriss beat out an infield single in the third inning.

Since sweeping a three-game series at Arizona last week by a combined score of 21-9, the Giants have scored four runs in the first two games of this homestand. They had gone 14 innings without scoring before Rowand drove in Castillo with a two-out single to center in the ninth.