NewsIshikawa catches fire to lead Giants
Four hits include first homer by an SF first baseman
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
05/25/09 10:24 PM ET
SAN FRANCISCO -- Travis Ishikawa began Monday with good fortune and ended it with great force. In between, he and the Giants did more than enough to defeat the Atlanta Braves, 8-2, on an afternoon where virtually everything went right for San Francisco -- a welcome reversal from the fate they endured while finishing 1-5 on their preceding trip to San Diego and Seattle. Ishikawa established a career high for hits by going 4-for-4. He concluded his performance by belting a three-run homer in the seventh inning, which not only settled the outcome but also represented the first home run hit by a Giants first baseman this season. "It's good to finally get that one off my shoulders," said Ishikawa, who homered in his 100th at-bat of the season. "But I'm not trying to hit home runs. I'm just trying to hit the ball hard." Ishikawa didn't hit the ball hard at all in his first at-bat. But his second-inning popup to the pitcher's mound fell for a single when third baseman Martin Prado and right-hander Javier Vazquez collided. "I'll take 100 more of those," Ishikawa said. "I know those don't come very often. I just got lucky on a miscommunication." Even before the game, it was the kind of day where Ishikawa would have found a pearl if he had shucked an oyster. Jesus Guzman was at first base in San Francisco's original lineup. But about 2 1/2 hours before the game, as the Giants performed stretching exercises before batting practice, something told manager Bruce Bochy -- his inner voice, or maybe the ghost of John McGraw -- to start Ishikawa instead. "I wish I had a great reason to give you," Bochy said. "But I just decided to make the change." Ishikawa made a change, too. After consciously trying to accelerate his swing, he resorted to the approach that helped him hit seven homers in 86 at-bats in Spring Training, when he said he "felt a lot more relaxed -- being aggressive but at the same time not thinking about anything." Ishikawa obviously wasn't bothered that Atlanta manager Bobby Cox opted to intentionally walk Fred Lewis with two outs and Randy Winn on second base. Ishikawa made them regret the decision by driving Buddy Carlyle's 2-1 pitch onto the right-field arcade. Nor, Ishikawa insisted, will he obsess over the presence of Guzman, who joined the Giants last Thursday after hitting .363 in 39 games for Triple-A Fresno. That transaction alone posed an implicit challenge to Ishikawa. Then general manager Brian Sabean indicated Saturday that Guzman would receive chances to prove himself, explicitly threatening to trim Ishikawa's activity. But, Ishikawa said, "I can't control who plays. I'm going to continue to do the same thing I've always done. I guess to an extent I have to continue to show them that I deserve that spot and I'm ready to take that spot." The Giants' third victory in 12 games included other key contributions and bursts of luck. During their three-run fifth inning that broke a scoreless tie against Vazquez (4-4), Ishikawa, who singled leading off, stole second base as Juan Uribe struck out. Television replays indicated that Ishikawa might have been out, but that wasn't how umpire Bill Miller saw it. After Emmanuel Burriss singled to score Ishikawa, Jonathan Sanchez bunted back to Vazquez, whose appeared to have a play at second base. But Vazquez made a wide, one-hop throw, enabling Burriss to slide in safely. Edgar Renteria then lined a two-out, two-run double into the left-field corner, the fifth inning's biggest hit. That established a pattern for the Giants, who scored six of their runs with two outs. One inning later, Lewis tagged up from third on Uribe's fly ball and appeared beaten to home plate by Jordan Schafer's throw. But Lewis dove headlong and barely scraped the plate with his left hand. Pinch-hitter Nate Schierholtz added an RBI single in the sixth. Those were critical runs at the time, because Sanchez could not provide the shutdown inning the Giants needed after jumping ahead 3-0. Partly due to fatigue brought on by scoring from first base on Renteria's double, Sanchez, who ended a five-start winless streak, yielded two runs in the sixth after limiting Atlanta to two hits. "That run got me," said Sanchez (2-4), who retired none of the four batters he faced in the sixth. Right-hander Justin Miller inherited a 3-1 lead and a bases-loaded jam from Sanchez and struck out two while allowing just one run to score. Jeremy Affeldt, Brandon Medders and Brian Wilson did the rest. "You're just trying to keep the lead," Miller said, explaining his sixth-inning objective. "We have a pretty solid bullpen. We're all pretty confident that if we have a one-run lead going into the seventh inning, that's a ballgame we can win."Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
