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Four-run seventh lifts Giants past Cardinals

Jul 8, 2007 - 5:35 AM ST. LOUIS (Ticker) -- Barry Bonds did not need to homer against the St. Louis Cardinals because Aaron Miles was giving away runs for free.

Miles made three errors in the seventh inning, leading to four run as the San Francisco Giants posted a 7-6 triumph over the Cardinals on Saturday night.

Bonds went 0-for-2 with a pair of walks before being lifted for a defensive replacement in the bottom of the seventh. The 42-year-old slugger sits at 751 career home runs, four shy of tying Hank Aaron's all-time record.

Miles was starting out of position at shortstop due to David Eckstein's back injury. Normally a second baseman, Miles has been demoted to a utility role this season with the addition of Adam Kennedy and has now made seven total errors in just 33 games at short.

"The young man at short just played his heart out," Cardinals manager Tony La Russa said. "He's a very tough individual. He's too tough. (The loss) wasn't because of Aaron Miles."

After a pair of singles and a sacrifice put runners on second and third with one out in the seventh for San Francisco, Mark Sweeney bounced a grounder Miles' way. The 30-year-old infielder sailed the throw to first, allowing a run to score.

"(Miles) was checking the guy going from third to home," La Russa said. "That kind of threw off his timing and he threw the ball high."

Dave Roberts followed with another sacrifice and Randy Winn hit a shot that Miles could not field cleanly, permitting two more runs to cross the plate. Winn then stole second and came around to score when Miles' third error of the frame flew past first baseman Albert Pujols.

"We got a couple of breaks," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The defensive part, like the hitting part, is very streaky. That's the nature of the game. It's nice to get a couple of breaks. We certainly can use them, and we got them tonight."

To add to the insult, Miles went 0-for-5 at the plate and is hitless in the last four contests. In his last at-bat on Saturday, Miles grounded out with the potential tying run on second, ending the Cardinals' three-run, eighth-inning rally.

Miles' miscues helped make a winner of Giants rookie starter Tim Lincecum (4-2), who yielded three runs and six hits while striking out five in six innings. It was the second straight win for the 23-year-old righthander.

"He's not in awe of anything," Bochy said. "Sometimes I wonder if he knows who's up there hitting. He's going to come at you. That's what makes him who he is. He has great stuff, but you have to look at his makeup. He has a chance to be special."

"You don't want to be out there awestruck," Lincecum said. "You don't look at them like they're better than you. You look at them like they're peers and you're playing baseball on the same field."

In his previous start, Lincecum pitched seven scoreless innings, surrendering just three hits with no walks and a career-high 12 strikeouts in a 13-0 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Three relievers bridged the gap to Brad Hennessey, who picked up his fifth save of the season with a scoreless ninth for San Francisco. The first-year closer recovered from an embarrassing outing on Friday in which he yielded two runs while retiring just two batters.

"Yesterday, we pulled him," Bochy said. "That doesn't mean he's not going to be out there. Brad is going to be closing, for the most part. He has good stuff and he showed great composure tonight."

St. Louis starter Braden Looper (6-7) pitched 6 1/3 innings, allowing five runs and eight hits en route to his fourth consecutive loss.

"I'm sure Aaron's not too happy right now," Looper said. "We had plenty of opportunities to win the game. I could have made a few better pitches and we would have been in a better situation and maybe it would have never came to (the errors)."

Lincecum saw his scoreless innings streak snapped at 17 as the Cardinals got on the board in the second. After allowing singles by Scott Rolen and Skip Schumaker, Lincecum looked like he was going to escape unscathed as he retired the next two batters. But Looper doubled past first base for a 2-0 lead.

The Giants answered in the third inning as Lincecum helped himself at the plate with a single and scored on Winn's two-run base hit.

"It wasn't the best execution," Lincecum said of his hit. "I was trying to get on top of the ball, but it just blooped out there."

Schumaker tied a career high with three hits and All-Star Pujols added two but failed to homer for the 21st consecutive game for the Cardinals, who fell to 0-4 against the Giants this season.

"We had a couple of golden opportunities with the leadoff guy on base ahead of Albert, which is one of the best situations you can have," La Russa said. "To me, that's a bigger story (than the errors). It was a game we had a chance to win, and we didn't."