Giants use grit, luck to get second win
04/11/2007 2:31 AM ET
Giants use grit, luck to get second win
Morris again defeats Padres, backed by renewed offense
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
Matt Morris has earned the win in both of the Giants' victories this season.
(Donald Miralle/Getty Images)
SAN DIEGO -- For the facts of the Giants' 6-5 victory Tuesday night over the
San Diego Padres, check the box score.
For the soul of this much-needed triumph, focus on Ryan Klesko.
A simple fourth-inning deed by Klesko captured the intensity the Giants
summoned to outlast San Diego, which defeated them in three of four previous
games.
Sliding into second base, Klesko broke up an attempted double play, enabling
Ray Durham to score San Francisco's third run. Actually, Klesko didn't just
break up the play. He demolished it, grabbing Marcus Giles and virtually
tackling him to insure that the Padres second baseman wouldn't have a chance
to throw out the plodding Bengie Molina at first.
"We gotta take every run we can get," Klesko said. "I don't want to hurt
anybody, but you still have to do your job, you know? ... I don't know what I
did. I just reacted, I guess. I didn't want to hurt ol' Gilly. We're buddies,
but ... I definitely didn't want him getting the throw off."
Klesko accented his fervor in the bottom of the inning by landing in the laps
of a few spectators behind first base as he snared Khalil Greene's pop fly.
"Play hard to win, baby," Klesko said. "That's all you can do."
This almost wasn't enough for the Giants, who squandered most of a 6-0 lead
that sprouted from luck and newfound timely hitting. Adrian Gonzalez led San
Diego's comeback by stroking a fifth-inning RBI single, homering in the
seventh and adding a two-run, two-out homer in the ninth off Armando Benitez.
But Benitez retired Greene on a fly to center to end San Diego's three-game
winning streak and prevent the Giants (2-6) from matching the worst eight-game
record in the franchise's San Francisco history
(1-7 in 1967).
"It's always nice to get a win, but we have to put something together -- get a
couple, three in a row, come to the ballpark with confidence and make a
decent road trip out of this," said right-hander Matt Morris, who owns both
Giants victories.
The Giants restored order to their offense, in more ways than one.
Barry Bonds' return to the cleanup spot after beginning the season batting
third commanded pregame attention.
"We were sputtering," manager Bruce Bochy said. "It was time to do something
different."
But after the first pitch, Bonds shared the spotlight with everybody in the
lineup.
Bonds accumulated just two at-bats with men on base in his first six games.
This time, hitting fourth again, he fulfilled his run-producing role by
contributing an RBI single to the Giants' three-run fifth inning. That hit
pulled Bonds into a tie with Babe Ruth for fifth on the all-time total bases
list with 5,793.
The Giants, who scored a National League-low 14 runs in their first seven
games, received hits from seven different players, including Morris. The pair
of starters who didn't, Dave Roberts and Randy Winn, either scored or drove in
a run.
Luck helped the Giants open the scoring with a pair of second-inning runs off
Padres starter Clay Hensley (0-1). After Bonds reached base safely on Giles'
fielding error to open the inning, Durham lifted a fly to center field that
Mike Cameron lost in the twilight. The ball fell about 15 feet behind Cameron
for a double, moving Bonds to third.
After Molina's one-out single scored Bonds, Winn hit a comebacker to Hensley,
who didn't bother to look at Durham heading home and instead threw out Winn at
first base.
"We got a couple of breaks, and we know it," Bochy said. "It's tough in that
twilight. But we swung it better and we were a little looser."
Klesko's takedown helped the Giants hike their lead to 3-0 before they
concluded their scoring with three runs in the fifth. Morris singled and
Roberts walked before both advanced on Omar Vizquel's sacrifice bunt. Rich
Aurilia and Bonds drilled RBI singles before reliever Mike Thompson allowed
Durham's sacrifice fly.
Having lost 19 of their previous 22 regular-season games dating back to last
year, the Giants wouldn't survive easily. It all came down to Benitez, the
shaky save artist who began the ninth inning throwing 94 mph but ended it with
the potential tying run at the plate.
"I don't care if I throw 75," Benitez said, "if I get somebody out."
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the
approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
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