Pinch hitter Rich Aurilia singled home catcher Steve Holm in the bottom of the tenth, giving the Giants a 1-0 extra innings victory over the Colorado Rockies.  The win showcased another outstanding effort by starter Barry Zito who, in spite of another no-decision, turned in his third consecutive quality appearance, throwing seven shutout innings while surrendering only two hits.  With the outcome, the Giants won their fifth consecutive series, taking two of three at home against the division rivals. 

In the opener, Randy Johnson struck out nine in seven shutout innings, stingily allowing only four hits and walking none as the Giants rode and RBI double by Travis Ishikawa and sacrifice flies by Randy Winn and Bengie Molina to a 3-2 victory.  Brian Wilson tallied his sixth save of the season, closing out the Rockies in the ninth after quelling an eighth inning uprising against Bob Howry and Jeremy Affeldt with a bases loaded strikeout of Ryan Spilborghs.  

In the middle game, Spilborghs got a measure of revenge, homering twice off Matt Cain, as the Rockies topped the tally, 5-1.  Starter Jason Marquis threw a complete game five-hitter, surrendering only a ninth inning homerun to Pablo Sandoval.  Brad Hawpe also homered to back Marquis. 

I was impressed by the Giants starting pitching (again) this series.  Zito and Johnson were dominant.  For Zito, he did it with Steve Holm behind the dish, showing that perhaps his recent success was more than just Sandoval catching.  Hopefully he can continue it with Molina as his backstop.  Also, though it was the first time in five starts this season that Cain wasn’t dominant, aside from the homers, he only allowed four other hits and four walks.  An off day, but for a three, such an off day is acceptable every now and again.  Finally, it’s nice to see Fred Lewis and Ishikawa making some solid contact.  Ditto Nate Schierholtz.  On an injury note, Winn sat out the final game of the series with a sore side.   We’ll watch that one and keep you posted. 

The Giants will next travel to Chicago for a two game set against the Cubs.   The Rockies will go down the shore to San Diego for a two game series against the Padres. 

The San Francisco Giants scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning but they were unable to score the tying run and lost to the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 7-6. I’ll give the Giants credit for coming back after Brandon Webb left the game, they were just put in to big of a hole early in the game by the pitching staff.

Starting pitcher Jonathan Sanchez gave up six hit and six runs in only 3 2/3 innings. Three walks and one home run really hurt Sanchez in the game. Kevin Correia also gave up a home run and one run in two innings of relief.

Omar Vizquel led the Giants at the plate with two rbi in the game and then was followed by for other players with one rbi each. Rich Aurilia, John Bowker, Bengie Molina, and Pablo Sandoval all chipped in with one rbi each.

The Giants and D-backs will play one more game in the series on Thursday night. Tim Lincecum will be taking mound so try to catch the game on tv or out in Phoenix if you can.

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It was an up and down ballgame for the San Francisco Giants on Wednesday afternoon as they blew the lead in the top of the ninth, but then came back to score two runs in the bottom of the inning and beat the Arizona Diamondbacks by the score of 4-3.

The Giants were able to score two runs in the bottom of the inning on a two run triple by Eugenio Velez. The young guy came up huge for the Giants as he had all four rbi. Earlier in the game he had a two run double that scored Pablo Sandoval and Bengie Molina for the first two Giants runs. Great performance by Velez!

Brian Wilson was the reliever that gave up two hits and two walks in the top of the ninth as he blew the save. Just a bad outing for Wilson who didn’t have good control of the ball at all. Starting pitcher Brad Hennessey tossed the first six innings of the game and only allowed four hits and one run. It’s too bad the bullpen blew the win and he had to get a no decision. Alex Hinshaw picked up the win as he recorded the final out after Wilson was removed in the top of the ninth inning.

Great series for the Giants as they swept the Diamondbacks in the three game series. The Giants will now play the San Diego Padres in a four game series starting on Thursday night.

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Tim Lincecum led the San Francisco Giants to a 6-2 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday night. The Giants “ace” tossed 8 1/3 innings and only allowed two runs to score. Lincecum is now 16-3 on the season and should be getting a lot of mention about the Cy Young award if you ask me.

The two runs that the Diamondbacks scored in the game came on a fielders choice and then Alex Hinshaw made an error. Atleast the Giants didn’t let things snowball in the final inning and limited the damage to only those two runs.

The Giants offense was awesome right from the beginning as they chased Diamondbacks starting pitcher Yusmeiro Petit out of the game after only 2 2/3 innings. The Giants were able to score five runs off of Petit in the third inning and they never looked back. Bengie Molina had the big hit in the third when he connected on a three run home run. Dave Roberts walked in the inning to force in another run. The inning actually got started with a rbi single from Pablo Sandoval who now has 14 rbi’s on the season.

The sixth and final run for the Giants came in the seventh inning when Rich Aurilia singled in Molina.

Great win for the Giants and they hope to make it two in a row of the Diamondbacks on Tuesday night. Giants Blog

Giants starting pitcher Tim Lincecum picked up his 15th win of the season on Wednesday night when the Giants beat the Rockies 4-1. Lincecum was awesome as he pitched 7 2/3 innings and only gave up five hits and one run while striking out ten rockies. Tim improved to 15-3 on the season with the victory.

Things didn’t look too hot for the Giants as they were down 1-0 heading in to the bottom of the seventh inning against Livan Hernandez. Hernandez however left a couple of balls up and the Giants made him pay dearly. Bengie Molina and Pablo Sandoval both hit home runs off of Hernandez to put the Giants up 2-0. They would also tack on a couple of insurance runs in the eighth inning to extend the lead to 4-1.

Brian Wilson pitched 1 1/3 innings and gave up one hit but did manage to get his 36th save of the season and secure the Giants win.

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The San Francisco Giants struggled a the plate against Jeff Francis as they lost to the Colorado Rockies 4-2 on Monday night. The Giants scored two runs in the first inning but were then held scoreless the rest of the game as the dropped to 58-73 on the year.

Matt Cain pitched seven inning and gave up six hits and three runs. Without any run support, Cain took the loss and is now 8-10. He did walk four batters and gave up one home run but I think he pitched good enough to get the win had there been any offense. Alex Hinshaw gave up a big run in the eighth inning on a sac fly that put the Rockies up two and created an even bigger hole for the Giants offense.

The two runs that Giants did get came in the first inning on a Fred Lewis triple that plated Randy Winn and then Lewis scored on a Bengie Molina rbi sac fly. After the first inning, Jeff Francis settled down and the Giants were unable to score any more runs.

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The ninth inning was a drama filled one last night as the Florida Marlins scored three runs to tie the game and then the Giants scored the winning run on a Bengie Molina sac fly in the bottom of the ninth inning. It would have been a terrible way to end the game had the Marlins came all the way back after struggling most of the game at the plate against the Giants pitchers.

Molina however was there to save the day with his rbi sac fly to center that scored Dave Roberts for the winning run. Molina also had a rbi single in the seventh inning for the Giants as he finished with two rbi. Randy Winn hit a solo home run to finish with one rbi. Rich Aurilia, Emmanuel Burriss, and Fred Lewis all finished with one rbi as well.

Giants starting pitcher Matt Cain pitched 7 2/3 innings and gave up five hits and two runs. Both runs came from a home run ball that he gave up to Jeremy Hermida in the fourth inning. Brian Wilson blew the save in the ninth inning when he gave up a three run home run but then got the win as the Giants scored in the bottom of the inning.

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Rich Aurilia and Omar Vizquel both hit doubles in the 8th inning as the San Francisco Giants came from behind to beat the Washington Nationals 6-4.  Aurilia’s two run double put the Giants ahead by one run and then Vizquel knocked in Aurlia to put the Giants by two runs.  The Giants have now beaten the Nationals the first two games of the three game series and will be looking for the sweep on Thursday afternoon.

Giants starting pitcher Kevin Correia did not have a very good game as he gave up 12 hits and four runs in only 5 2/3 innings.  The bullpen did a great job however as they held the Nationals to those four runs the rest of the game.  Alex Hinshaw, Osiris Matos, E Espineli, and Brian Wilson all pitched out of th pen. Espineli ended up getting the win while Wilson picked up his 27th save.

To go along with Aurilia’s two rbi, Bengie Molina also had two rbi.  Both of his rbi came on two seperate doubles in the 1st and 5th innings.  Aaron Rowand also had a rbi double in the 1st inning for the Giants.  The Giants weren’t hitting the long ball but they sure hit plenty of doubles to score some runs.

Root on the Giants Thursday afternoon as they play the Nationals once more and will be trying for the three game sweep!  Giants Baseball Blog

Barry Zito has finally won his 5th game of the season as the San Francisco Giants beat the Washington Nationals by the score of 6-3 on Tuesday evening.  Zito is now 5-12 on the season with a 5.56 era.  Great win for the Giants as they have now taken the first two games in a three game series against the visiting Nationals.

Zito threw six innings while giving up seven hits and three runs.  He did walk three batters but also struckout five others.  It was a decent start for Zito as it was enough to pick up the victory.  Four different relief pitchers combined to throw the final four innings of the game and did not allow a run.  Jack Taschner and Sergio Romo combined to throw the 7th inning while Tyler Walker threw the 8th inning and Brian Wilson notched his 26th save in the 9th inning.

At the plate for the Giants, Bengie Molina hit a two run home run and a solo home run to finish the game with three rbi.  Both of Molina’s home runs came against Nationals starting pitcher Jason Bergmann.  Fred Lewis also hit a solo home run off of Bergmann in the 1st inning.  Omar Vizquel had a rbi double in the 4th inning and Aaron Rowand tacked on a rbi single in the 8th inning.  That was enough offense for the Giants as they doubled up the Nationals.

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The San Francisco Giants gave up two runs in the eighth inning and then two more runs in the ninth inning as they lost to the Detroit Tigers by the score of 5-1.  You can’t give up late runs like that in close games if you expect to win.  Bad last two innings that hopefully they team will remember next time they are in that situation.

Jonathan Sanchez had a no hitter going through the first five innings but then gave up a hit in the sixth inning.  Sanchez would eventually pitch seven innings and give up three runs and take the loss for the Giants.  Sanchez droppes his record to 6-4 with the loss.

Billy Sadler threw the eighth inning after he came in for Sanchez who had just given up a home run and single to start the inning.  Salder then gave up a run on a fielder choice.  (The run would be charged to Sanchez).  Vinnie Chulk came into the game to give up two more runs in the ninth inning that extended the Tigers lead to four.

The lone run for the Giants came off the bat of Bengie Molina in the sixth inning when he hit a sacrafice fly that scored Fred Lewis.  The Giants had their chances to score some runs in the game as they had nine hits but they just couldn’t get the job done.

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