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Giants tip Yankees to snap eight-game skid

Jun 24, 2007 - 2:27 AM SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants got pushed beyond the limit before breaking their eight-game losing streak.

Rookie Nate Schierholtz delivered a walk-off bloop single in the 13th inning to lift the Giants to a 6-5 victory over the New York Yankees.

Scott Proctor (1-4) took the loss, giving up three singles in the 13th as San Francisco won for the first time since June 12 against Toronto.

"It was one of those situations you come up to the plate looking for a pitch over the plate," said Schierholtz, still wet from a beer baptism by his teammates in the clubhouse. "I put a good swing on it. I had a good feeling it was going to drop. (It) was just the excitement of winning, of breaking the streak."

Vinnie Chulk (2-2) pitched a scoreless inning for the victory as San Francisco overcame a three-run deficit to win for the first time this season.

"It was a good victory," Giants reliever Steve Kline said. "Anytime you can beat that team, anytime you beat the All-Star lineup, is pretty good. I just hope our guys come in mentally prepared tomorrow because you know what, we're playing the Yankees again."

Yankees superstar Alex Rodriguez pushed the game into extra innings with a solo home run in the ninth inning off closer Brad Hennessey to tie it at 5-5.

It was the seventh time Rodriguez homered in the ninth inning this season and his 28th overall. He now has 76 RBI, including 29 in his last 17 games.

Rodriguez also had a double as the Giants loaded the bases with one out in the 11th, but Kline struck out Hideki Matsui and got Robinson Cano to ground out.

"It was very tough, obviously it was a long day," Rodriguez said. "There's some good things to build from. I think our pitching did a phenomenal job. We kind of hit into some bad luck, too. We hit the ball hard, but right at people."

The Giants had erased a 4-1 deficit with a single run in the sixth inning and three in the seventh to take a 5-4 lead.

Barry Bonds was in the middle of both inning. The seven-time National League MVP singled home a run in the sixth to cut it to 4-2 and drew a bases-loaded walk off Brian Bruney in the seventh to put San Francisco ahead, 5-4.

New York struck for three runs in the third inning against Matt Morris, who allowed four runs and 13 hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Melky Cabrera led off with his second triple of the series. An RBI groundout by Derek Jeter, who doubled in the first to extend his hitting streak to 17 games, and run-scoring singles from Jorge Posada and Cano made it 3-0.

Jeter later left in the game in the eighth inning with a strained left hip.

According to manager Joe Torre, it may force the perennial All-Star to miss Sunday's game, but likely no more heading into an off-day on Monday.

San Francisco answered in the bottom with a run-scoring double from Dave Roberts - his first RBI since May 9 - off Yankees start Chien-Ming Wang.

The Yankees upped their lead to 4-1 in the third with three straight one-out singles from Rodriguez, Posada and Matsui, before Cano grounded into a double play.

Although the Giants cut the lead to 4-2 in the sixth, it could have been more. Winn singled with one out before Ray Durham hit a slow bouncer up the middle that grazed Wang's glove before Jeter fielded it. Durham was called out by first base umpire Phil Cuzzi, but replays showed Miguel Cairo's foot was off the base.

This prompted a lengthy discussion leading to San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy's second ejection in three games. Bonds followed with his RBI single to right before Ryan Klesko bounced out to Cairo to end the inning.

"I was more frustrated, it's a big call at the time to try to get back in the ballgame," Bochy said. "I thought he did come off the bag."

San Francisco took its first lead in the series in the seventh. Pedro Feliz launched a solo homer to deep left with one out and Omar Vizquel followed with a single.

"We had to get a win to break this streak and hopefully get a winning streak going and it was a hard-fought one," Bochy said. "Win this game, I think is huge for the morale of the ballclub and hopefully something we can build on."

Mike Myers replaced Wang and walked Roberts. Bruney came on and allowed an RBI single to Randy Winn to knot the score at 4-4.

After loading the bases with a walk to Durham, Bonds came to the plate with the bases loaded for the second time in the series and walked again on a full count. Bruney averted further damage by getting Klesko to foul out.

Despite suffering the loss the first by the bullpen in 13 games, Torre liked what he saw from Proctor, who went the final 2 2/3 innings, as well as his offense.

"Proctor did a great job," Torre said. "Certainly we wanted to stay away from him he's thrown 40, 50 pitches the last few days. He gave us some effort. Vizquel's ball - a chopper through the middle - and then that last blooper.

"I'll try it again tomorrow with Matsui with the bases loaded every time. It just wasn't our day today, I guess. We had a three-run lead. When you look up there we scored four runs - it felt like we scored eight or nine - but they weren't on the board."

Wang did not factor in the decision for the first time this season in 12 starts, going 6 1/3 innings, allowing four runs and six hits without a strikeout. He has won his previous four decisions.