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Correia's strong outing helps Giants edge Nationals

Sep 1, 2007 - 4:33 AM WASHINGTON (Ticker) -- Kevin Correia likes being in the starting rotation.

Correia pitched six effective innings as the San Francisco Giants posted a 3-2 victory over the Washington Nationals on Friday.

Rajai Davis had a two-run double and Dan Ortmeier added an RBI single for San Francisco, which has won seven of eight and 12 of 15.

Despite their recent success, the Giants (62-73) still are the only team in the National League West Division under .500.

Washington has lost seven straight games, one shy of their season-high skid from May 1-9.

Correia (3-6) has been impressive since moving into the Giants' rotation, going 2-0 in three outings. The righthander, who yielded three runs, five hits and a walk against the Nationals, has an ERA of 2.81 in the trio of starts this month.

"I didn't have my best stuff tonight, but I worked around it and came away with the win," Correia said.

The 27-year-old Correia surrendered an RBI double by Dmitri Young in the first inning and a solo homer to Austin Kearns in the fourth while shutting down the rest of the Nationals' lineup.

Tyler Walker allowed a leadoff double in the seventh before retiring the next three batters to get out of the inning, and Brian Wilson pitched around a two-out walk in the eighth. Closer Brad Hennessey tossed a perfect ninth to record his 17th save in 19 opportunities.

"It was all about Kevin Correia and the bullpen," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We got a few key hits and a few good bounces. That's baseball."

San Francisco used a three-run second inning to erase a deficit and take the lead.

With the Giants trailing, 1-0, Pedro Feliz led off with a double and Omar Vizquel walked. One out later, Ortmeier lined a base hit to right field to tie the game.

Three batters later, Davis hammered a pitch from Washington starter Tim Redding down the third base line, plating two for a 3-1 advantage.

"I just got the hit past (Nationals third baseman Ryan) Zimmerman and it worked out for us," Davis said. "We scored and held on to win the game."

Redding (3-5) allowed three runs, five hits and five walks in five innings.

"Five walks is a poor performance on my part," Redding said. "Not throwing strikes, walking too many hitters and blowing an early lead was the reason why we lost tonight's game".

The righthander, who struck out one, is 0-4 lifetime vs. the Giants.

"Tim labored for five innings and couldn't throw strikes," Nationals manager Manny Acta said. "It is what it is".