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Winn lifts Giants over Astros in extra innings

May 18, 2007 - 5:39 AM HOUSTON (Ticker) -- A fortunate bounce helped the San Francisco Giants avert a three-game sweep.

Randy Winn's single in the top of the 12th scored Pedro Feliz as the Giants defeated the Houston Astros, 2-1, on Thursday.

It was the third straight one-run game in the series

Feliz opened the inning with a single off Brad Lidge (2-1) and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Omar Vizquel. Rich Aurilia followed with a groundout that moved Feliz to third base.

Winn's grounder to first appeared to be an inning-ending groundout, but the ball bounced off first base and high into air. Second baseman Craig Biggio grabbed the ball and tried to make the throw to Lidge at first, but Winn beat the throw and Feliz scored.

"I honestly thought it was going to be foul," Winn said. "Somehow it stayed fair and somehow it hit the base. I might have got a hit off a base (before), but never to put us ahead."

Lidge allowed an earned run for just the third time in 19 appearances this year.

"He battled me pretty good and was able to get it in play," Lidge said. "I think Lance (Berkman) had a good bead on it and just, at the last minute, it hit first base, which is tough."

Vinnie Chulk (1-2) picked up the win after pitching the 11th and Armando Benitez pitched a perfect 12th for his eighth save.

"We finally got a break," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "It looked like Berkman was going to get to the ball and it hit the bag. We lost two tough games here (Tuesday and Wednesday). A win in extra innings on the road is huge."

A pair of errors on the same play in the eighth inning allowed the Giants to tie the game at 1-1 and prevented Houston starter Roy Oswalt from becoming the National League's first seven-game winner.

With one out and Winn at first base, reliever Trever Miller induced a potential double-play grounder from Fred Lewis. However, third baseman Mike Lamb threw the ball wide of second base and into right field, allowing Winn to take off for third. Right fielder Luke Scott attempted to throw out Winn at third, but the throw short-hopped Lamb and rolled into foul ground, allowing Winn to score the tying run.

After Ryan Klesko's groundout advanced Lewis to third, Miller intentionally walked Barry Bonds. Chad Qualls entered and prevented further damage by retiring Kevin Frandsen on a flyout.

Oswalt had held the Giants hitless through 5 2/3 innings and pitched seven scoreless frames, allowing four hits and two walks while striking out six.

"I knew I had pretty decent stuff coming out of the bullpen (before the game)," Oswalt said. "The ball was kind of lively and it was running really well. I didn't know I had a no-hitter until I looked up in the fifth. The pace of the game was great."

The Giants also wasted an excellent start, as rookie Tim Lincecum allowed one unearned run and just two hits in seven innings. Making his third career start, the 22-year-old rookie walked one and struck out a career-high 10 batters.

"This is as good a pitching as you'll see," Bochy said. "The matchup came as expected. Our kid threw great and Oswalt was on top of his game. (Lincecum) shut down a good team. Now he knows he can pitch up here. He looks much more relaxed."

Lincecum said he is becoming more accustomed to pitching at the major league level.

"I got in a good rhythm right off the bat," he said. "I was throwing my curveball for strikes, getting ahead of the hitters. Stats-wise, each game is better. Physically I feel the same. It's getting more comfortable the more more innings I throw, see different batters, different teams."

"(Lincecum has) got really good poise on the mound, like he's been here before," said Winn, who didn't waste the opportunity to kid the rookie hurler. "He kind of looks like the batboy."

Winn, who had three hits, picked up the Giants' first hit against Oswalt with an infield single in the sixth.

Shortstop Adam Everett made a diving play to stop Winn's grounder up the middle, but could not get to his feet to make the throw. The hit extended Winn's career-high hitting streak to 16 games.

Lewis followed with the Giants' second single of the game on a ball that almost duplicated the path of Winn's hit. The Giants nearly capitalized, but Klesko's sinking liner to right was caught on a diving effort by Scott in right field.

The Giants threatened again in the seventh after back-to-back two-out singles by Bengie Molina and Feliz. However, Oswalt got out of the jam by getting Vizquel to ground out to first to keep the lead at 1-0.

Similar to the Giants, Houston's first run was unearned.

Berkman walked with one out in the fourth, stole second and advanced to third when Molina threw the ball into center field. Moments later, Carlos Lee lifted a sacrifice fly to center.

"Their guy threw awesome and their bullpen was solid," Berkman said. "Our guys threw great, too. Brad (Lidge) didn't really give up a hard-hit ball that (12th) inning. Somehow, we got a bad bounce there at the end and that was it."

Rookie Hunter Pence, who went 7-for-7 with two home runs and four RBI in the first two games of the series, had one hit for the Astros, who had a four-game winning streak snapped.

Bonds was held without a homer for the seventh consecutive game, going 0-for-3 with two walks. The seven-time MVP needs 10 home runs to tie Hank Aaron's all-time record of 755.

Coming into the game, Oswalt had never retired Bonds, allowing four hits, including a homer, and four walks in eight plate appearances.