The San Francisco Giants blasted three homeruns and Jonathan Sanchez dominated as the NL West leaders beat the Pittsburgh Pirates, Wednesday afternoon, by a tally of 6-0.
The hit parade began in the second as Aubrey Huff hit his first homerun as a Giant; a solo inside the park number that caromed off the wall in triples alley off loser Charlie Morton (0-2). Eli Whiteside followed four batter later with a three run blast, giving winning pitcher Jonathan Sanchez (1-0) all the runs he would need on this day. Sanchez was masterful, tossing eight shutout innings while giving up only three hits and three walks and tying his career high with eleven strikeouts. Aaron Rowand closed the scoring with his first homerun, a two run shot in the fifth.
In the opener, Barry Zito (2-0) won his second consecutive strong start, pitching into the seventh, while Bengie Molina went 4-4, driving in four and hitting his first homerun of the season as the Giants prevailed, 9-3. The team hit early and often off losing pitcher Brian Burres (0-1), chasing him after four innings. Mark DeRosa drove in two and Pablo Sandoval went 3-4 on the day as San Francisco rapped out twelve hits. Aubrey Huff scored three runs in the effort.
In the middle game, Matt Cain played well, pitching six innings of five hit ball. After he left, the Giants rallied to tie the score at three, giving Cain a no-decision on the day. However, the bullpen couldn’t hold the Pirates down as loser Jeremy Affeldt (2-1) gave up an unearned run as Garret Jones singled in Andrew McCutchen in the eighth. The Pirates tacked on two in the ninth off Brandon Medders and closer Octavio Dotel withstood a two run homerun by Eugenio Velez (1) in the ninth to collect the save (2) as the Pirates won, 6-5. Evan Meek (1-0) bounced back from a blown save to pitch two shutout innings for the win and Andy Laroche (1) and Akinori Iwamura (2) lifted homeruns in the winning effort.
Well, all in all, a good series. The pitching is still clicking and Huff is contributing. That’s all good. They gave Brian Wilson an inning of work today. Again, good idea. No need to get him rusty. It seems like this team can beat you with whoever they send to the hill. Sanchez’s outing today echoes that. When they win, it’s a no-doubter. When they lose, it’s up in the air. That’s how they’ll keep the momentum as they head into division play this weekend. Keep it up, guys.
The Giants get an off day and then will travel to Los Angeles to play the Dodgers on Friday. This should be a true test to how ‘for real’ the team is. The Pirates go home and host the Cincinnati Reds on Friday. GO GIANTS!!!!
