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Molina propels Giants past Phillies

May 4, 2008 - 4:16 AM By Vince DiGregorio PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

PHILADELPHIA (Ticker) - This time, it was the San Francisco Giants who pulled out a win in extra innings.

Bengie Molina delivered an RBI single in the 10th inning and San Francisco used strong pitching to edge the Philadelphia Phillies, 3-2, on Saturday to even the three-game series.

The victory atoned for the 6-5 loss in 10 innings to the Phillies on Friday after Brian Wilson blew a one-run lead for the Giants by giving up a game-winning, two-out, two-run home run to Pat Burrell.

Wilson redeemed himself in this one, pitching a scoreless inning for his 10th save and securing the win for Jack Taschner (1-0), who along with Tyler Walker, also pitched a scoreless inning. The trio of relievers allowed no hits after starter Matt Cain surrendered just three hits to Philadelphia.

"I wanted it bad," Wilson said. "I don't want to wait until Tuesday. I kind of wanted a doubleheader last night. (Friday) was starting to be kind of a bitter night, but I snapped out of it."

"(Our pitching staff) never gets the credit that they deserve," Molina said. "These guys go out there and take the ball every single day. Day in and day out, they're willing to pitch. They're doing such a great job. I'm really proud of them."

Phillies reliever Rudy Seanez (2-2) retired the first batter in the 10th inning before Randy Winn singled to center. Winn stole second and came around to score on a line single to left by Molina.

"I'll tell you one thing, nothing comes easy for me," Molina said. "I remember (Seanez) throwing pretty hard."

Wilson came on and Burrell was the first batter that he faced. This time, Wilson was cautious and ended up walking him before retiring the next three batters to end the game.

"It was perfect that Pat led the inning off," Wilson said. "Same approach (as last night), but I was a little bit smarter about locating. If I was gonna miss, it wasn't gonna miss over the plate. It was gonna miss down and away, down and in or up and in."

The Giants manufactured a run in the first inning off Philadelphia starter Brett Myers to take a 1-0 lead. Fred Lewis led off with a walk, stole second and went to third on a groundout before scoring on Winn's single.

San Francisco had an opportunity to extend the lead later in the frame when it loaded the bases with one out. However, Myers came back to strike out rookie John Bowker and Rich Aurilia to end the threat.

Cain retired 10 of the first 11 batters he faced before Chase Utley drove a 2-1 pitch into the left-center field seats for his league-leading 13th home run to tie the game at 1-1.

"It was a backdoor curveball that stayed down and away," Cain said. "When guys are locked in, they're locked in. Utley is surely locked in. He's got a chance to hit a homer, no matter what. He's still a big threat."

Lewis regained the one-run lead for the Giants with a solo home run in the fifth, but Geoff Jenkins quickly leveled the contest at 2-2 after leading off the bottom half with a solo blast of his own.

"Basically, our offense centered around two home runs. That was about it," Phillies manager Charlie Manuel said.

Myers went seven innings and allowed two runs and six hits. He walked three and had a season-high nine strikeouts.

"I felt pretty good tonight, but I still have some things to work on," Myers said.

Cain allowed just four baserunners and left after suffering a hamstring injury following a leadoff walk in the eighth inning. The righthander gave up two runs in seven-plus innings with a walk and eight strikeouts.

"I just started to feel (the hamstring) in the seventh," Cain said. "It started to just tighten up on me. I should be fine."