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Stewart leads Athletics past Giants

Jun 9, 2007 - 8:03 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Shannon Stewart's pinch-hit, two-out, two-run single in the top of the 10th inning lifted the Oakland Athletics to a 5-3 victory over the San Francisco Giants in interleague play Friday.

The table was set for Stewart when, with two outs and Mark Kotsay on first base, Jason Kendall singled and advanced Kotsay to third. Kendall took second base on defensive indifference, before Stewart lined the decisive hit to left field off reliever Brad Hennessey (1-2).

Kiko Calero (1-4) earned the win after recording the final two outs in the ninth inning. Alan Embree pitched a perfect 10th inning for his sixth save.

"When I got up there, to be honest with you, I didn't know what was going on. My eyes weren't adjusted," Stewart said. "The first two balls, it was almost like I was just swinging at nothing. I just had to calm down. All I wanted to do was give us a chance."

The Giants squandered an opportunity to win the game in the bottom of the ninth when they loaded the bases with one out, but Calero kept the Athletics alive by getting Ray Durham to pop out and Kevin Frandsen to strike out swinging.

Calero had run the count to 3-0 on Durham, before inducing the pop out on a 3-1 pitch.

"The the player of the game is Kiko," Stewart said. "What he did against Durham, down 3-0, lose him and the game's over. He did an excellent job getting out of that situation. If he doesn't get that done we're going home with a 'L' and sleeping right now."

The Giants had erased a 3-1 deficit with a pair of runs in the seventh inning.

Randy Winn ignited the rally with a one-out single off Oakland starter Chad Gaudin. Daniel Ortmeier grounded out and moved Winn into scoring position at second base.

After Gaudin gave way to reliever Jay Marshall, Ryan Klesko lined a triple to right field. Barry Bonds followed with an RBI single to right field that tied the game. Bonds finished the game 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.

Gaudin allowed two runs, six hits and four walks while striking out three in 6 2/3 innings.

"Kiko coming through big there and Stewart coming up with a big hit there, it's a big win," Gaudin said. "Hopefully we can keep it going, keep the ball rolling and ride the wave as long as we can."

The Athletics took the early lead on a two-run double by Dan Johnson in the third.

The Giants had the potential for a big inning in the bottom of the frame, but managed only one run after loaded the bases with no outs. Winn grounded into a forceout to plate Pedro Feliz with the only tally of the frame.

Gaudin then struck out Ortmeier before allowing a walk to Klesko. With the bases loaded once again, Gaudin escaped the threat by getting Bonds to ground out to shortstop.

"We had our opportunities tonight," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "That game should have been over. You create the opportunities and you need to get ahead and a couple times we were missing that. We did a great job coming back there and had some big hits from Klesko and Barry. We just couldn't finish the drill."

The Athletics padded their lead with a tally in the top of the fifth and chased rookie starter Tim Lincecum from the game in the process.

Oakland rookie Travis Buck led off with a double and moved to third on a single by Mark Ellis. Buck scored to make it 3-1 on Nick Swisher's sacrifice fly. Lincecum walked Eric Chavez to load the bases before being relieved by Jonathan Sanchez, who was recalled from Class AAA Fresno on Thursday.

"It was big for us having Shannon come up and get that big hit," Buck said. "There were missed opportunities on both sides. It was just a matter of time before one of the teams was going to capitalize on them. Fortunately enough, it was us."

The lefthander got Johnson to pop out before ending the inning with a strikeout of Bobby Crosby.

Lincecum allowed three runs, four hits and five walks while striking out three in 4 1/3 innings - his shortest outing of the season.