Bengie Molina ended 4-for-5 with two home
runs and four RBI to lead the San Francisco Giants to an 8-4 win over the
Arizona Diamondbacks in the opener of a three-game series at AT&T Park.
Pablo Sandoval was 4-for-5 with a homer, two RBI and four runs scored for the
Giants, who are mathematically still alive by the slightest of margins for a
still possible, yet very unlikely, postseason berth.
San Francisco, which has won two straight following a three-game skid, is five
games behind Colorado in the NL wild card race, with the Atlanta Braves in
between. The Giants need to win all five of their remaining games and hope the
Rockies lose all five of theirs just to create a tie. Atlanta would also have
to collapse in order for the Giants to be a factor.
"Our priority right now is to try to finish up on a good note and I think that
sends a great message for next year and also it shows the character of our
ball club if you're not in it and we're still breathing," said Giants manager
Bruce Bochy. "There's a little hope, not a lot but a little hope but you still
have to go out and play the game and those guys did a great job tonight."
Jonathan Sanchez (8-12) earned the win after he tossed 5 2/3 innings and
allowed three runs on five hits with four strikeouts.
Miguel Montero belted a pair of home runs for Arizona, which saw its two-game
win streak halted.
"It was the long ball tonight. I mean it was like a home run derby it looked
like and it was a long game," said Montero. "It was miserable because it was
too long and it looked like the ball was flying today."
Doug Davis (8-14) suffered the loss and was charged with four runs on seven
hits and five walks through four frames.
Davis was erratic in the bottom of the first inning and it cost his club a
pair of runs. Leadoff batter Eugenio Velez singled, as did Sandoval. A two-out
walk to Juan Uribe loaded the bases and when Davis uncorked a wild pitch
during Ryan Garko's at-bat, Velez came home. Garko was issued a free pass when
ball four was called and another walk, this one to the following batter in the
form of Aaron Rowand, allowed Sandoval to trot home.
Montero's solo blast in the top of the fourth cut the D'Backs deficit in half.
In the bottom of the fourth, the Giants moved ahead by a 4-1 margin on
Molina's two-run homer. Sandoval singled with two outs and scored when Molina
crushed his 19th homer of the season over the wall in left field.
Montero struck again in the sixth, this time with a two-run blast that also
scored Mark Reynolds, and brought the visitors within one.
However, in the bottom portion of the frame, Molina's RBI single made it 5-3.
Back-to-back homers in the seventh -- a two-run bomb by Sandoval and Molina's
second round-tripper of the night -- gave the Giants a five-run edge before
Justin Upton's 26th home run of the season in the eighth capped the scoring.
Game Notes
Sanchez improved to 4-6 mark in 15 career games (12 starts) against the
Diamondbacks...Sandoval increased his 2009 RBI total to 87...D'Backs reliever
Clay Zavada was charged with three runs on three hits in one inning...The
Giants stranded 14 base runners...Ryan Roberts' ground-rule double in the top
of the fourth inning was originally ruled a homer before being overturned by
video replay.
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