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Late rally lifts Rockies over Giants

May 26, 2007 - 7:11 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The Colorado Rockies came through in the clutch on Friday.

Back-to-back two-out RBI singles by Kaz Matsui and Matt Holliday in the top of the ninth inning keyed the Rockies' 5-3 come-from-behind victory over the San Francisco Giants, who wasted another strong start by Matt Cain.

Ryan Spilborghs, Willy Taveras and Brad Hawpe also provided RBI hits for the Rockies, who rallied from a 3-0 deficit and scored all five of their runs with two outs.

"It was a real good ballgame for us," Colorado manager Clint Hurdle said. "Everybody threw a little something in. We threw a shoe in the first inning and nobody panicked. We stayed on it, stayed focused and (starter Jason Hirsh) started making pitches. We made some things happen late."

Knotted 3-3 with one out in the ninth, Steve Finley reached on an infield single off Giants' reliever Armando Benitez (0-2) and advanced to second on a throwing error by second baseman Kevin Frandsen.

After Taveras grounded out for the second out of the inning, Matsui delivered the go-ahead run with a single to right. After stealing second, Matsui scored an insurance run on Holliday's single to center.

"I did my job, man," Benitez said. "I get a ground ball, three ground balls. It happens. We had an opportunity to win the game. Someone had to pay and today it was me. How many times did we get somebody on base and not move them? Nothing you can do."

Reliever Jeremy Affeldt (2-1) earned the victory after pitching a scoreless eighth and Brian Fuentes pitched around a single in the ninth for his 14th save of the season.

After tallying two runs in the seventh on RBI singles by Spilborghs and Taveras, the Rockies knotted the game at 3-3 in the eighth on Hawpe's two-out double down the left field line scored Holliday from first base.

"I'm just up there trying to drive the ball but not over-swinging while I do it," Hawpe said. "This game was special. It was a lot of fun. We didn't have to rely on one big hit and that's special for us. For our bullpen to hold it it was a great game all the way around."

The Giants had opened up a 3-0 lead in the first, scoring two runs with two outs off Hirsh.

With no outs and the bases loaded, Barry Bonds grounded into a double play that allowed Randy Winn to score. Ray Durham plated Rich Aurilia with the Giants' second run with a double to the right field corner.

The inning appeared to be over on Bengie Molina's infield pop. However, Hirsh, first baseman Todd Helton and second baseman Matsui had problems both tracking the ball and determining who was going to catch it. The ball fell safely to the first base side of the pitching mound and Durham, who was running with two outs, raced home and Molina was credited with a single.

"The wind was blowing one way in the ballpark and the ball was going the other and it changed a little bit," Matsui said through an interpreter. "Any time the ball goes like that, I have to go for it."

Hirsh allowed three runs, five hits, and two walks while striking out three in six innings.

"I went down after that (first) inning and I was flustered with myself," Hirsh said. "After that first inning, I was really hoping to come out firing like I had been leading up to this in my preparation and it wasn't there at first."

Cain allowed two runs, four hits and four walks while striking out five in 6 2/3 innings. The 22-year-old righthander pitched six scoreless innings before getting chased in the seventh inning after throwing 114 pitches.

"They got hits when they needed to and that's kind of the way it goes," Cain said. "They put the bat on the ball and they just happened to fall in. Little things happened."

With another hitless game, Bonds continues to struggle - he is 0-for-11 in his last four games and hasn't driven in a run since May 8, the date of his last home run. Bonds is stuck on 745 career homers, 11 shy of breaking Hank Aaron's all-time record.

"Yeah, we let it slip away," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "Really we couldn't add on there and they got back in it. They got some hits when they needed it. We had a couple chances, we just couldn't put it away tonight and that came back to haunt us."