NewsGiants tested by ninth-inning loss
Wilson walks two, hits a batter in blowing save
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
05/22/09 3:10 AM ET
SAN DIEGO -- Time to rise or fall, Giants. Every season includes several adversity-filled junctures where a team must prove its worth. It either flourishes anew or sinks closer to irrelevance. Currently, the latter appears to be a likelier fate for the Giants, who have lost seven of their last eight games, including Thursday night's 3-2 setback that completed a three-game sweep for the San Diego Padres. Scott Hairston -- who else? -- hit a two-out, bases-loaded single off Brian Wilson that capped San Diego's winning two-run rally in the ninth inning. The Padres' uprising nullified an inspiring top of the ninth for San Francisco, which broke a 1-1 tie by becoming the first team to score this season off San Diego closer Heath Bell. It's difficult to believe that a little more than a week ago, on May 12, the Giants stood four games above .500 and trailed first-place Los Angeles in the National League West by just three games. They still occupy second place, though they've fallen two games below .500 (19-21) and trail the Dodgers by nine games. In a way, the maddening nature of Thursday's defeat was nothing new, since the Giants dropped the series' first two games by identical 2-1 scores. Starting pitchers Barry Zito, Jonathan Sanchez and Tim Lincecum combined to allow five earned runs in 21 innings (a 2.14 ERA). But the Giants wasted their excellence by hitting .107 (3-for-28) with runners in scoring position and scoring four runs. Manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that the Giants must show whether they're resilient or dormant."Yeah, we're being tested now," he said. "When you look back, this is as tough a series as you can have, the way we lost these games."
Lincecum pitched magnificently, limiting San Diego to one run and four hits in seven innings. The right-hander struck out 10, marking the 14th time in his career, including three this season, that he has reached double figures. Given that Lincecum surrendered eight earned runs and 16 hits in 12 innings over his previous two starts, perhaps the Giants can follow his example. "We came in here thinking that we have a good chance of taking the series, the way our team's been playing," Lincecum said. "Getting swept like this is difficult to take, especially against a division team like that." But, he added, "we still have plenty of ball to go. ... I know our team's a battling team and we're going to keep fighting no matter where we are." As well as Lincecum pitched, he was virtually matched by ex-Giant Kevin Correia, who yielded one run and six hits in 6 1/3 innings. But Aaron Rowand, who homered in the sixth inning, and Bengie Molina hit singles off Correia that caromed off the top of the left-field wall. Molina also belted a seventh-inning drive that Hairston caught just below the top of the center-field barrier. "We missed three home runs by a total of probably five feet," Bochy said, lamenting the Giants' luck. But Bochy offered no excuses for the Giants' ninth-inning unraveling."We created that," Bochy said.
First, they created something unique as Randy Winn's RBI single off Bell, who was unscored upon in 17 innings spanning 16 appearances, put the Giants ahead, 2-1. In came Wilson, whose inning began dubiously as Kevin Kouzmanoff tapped a weak grounder up the third-base line for a single. Nick Hundley sacrificed Kouzmanoff to second base before pinch-hitter Tony Gwynn walked. Wilson (2-3) struck out pinch-hitter Edgar Gonzalez but walked .161-hitting Brian Giles on a full-count pitch to load the bases. Wilson then hit David Eckstein to force in a run before Hairston, who has hit 11 of his 46 career homers against the Giants, settled for a single to left field that delivered Gwynn. Wilson, who has blown two of his last four save opportunities while recording a 9.53 ERA in a six-outing span, admitted that he pitched too carefully after Kouzmanoff's hit."I didn't want to give anybody anything good to hit," Wilson said.
Countered Bochy, "I know he's trying to be careful, but the walks and the hit batsman killed us."Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
