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Velez delivers game-winning hit as Giants down Padres

Aug 2, 2008 - 6:24 AM By Tim Powers PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Eugenio Velez's pinch-hit RBI double in the 10th inning off Trevor Hoffman lifted the San Francisco Giants to a 3-2 victory over the San Diego Padres on Friday.

Hoffman (1-6) entered the game in the 10th and retired the first two batters he faced before rookie Emmanuel Burriss singled.

Velez, pinch-hitting for reliever Sergio Romo (1-1), drilled a 2-0 offering from baseball's all-time saves leader off the wall in right field, easily scoring Burriss to give the Giants a 3-2 advantage.

"I'm just trying to get a hit, I can't try to do too much," said Velez, who had one hit over 12 at-bats before the pivotal double. "I'm (still) struggling a little bit. When they give me a chance, I just want to show what I can do. That's all I'm trying to do right now."

"It's the same parameters (as a save situation)," Hoffman said. "You have to hope to hold it, put up a goose egg and give it a chance."

Giants closer Brian Wilson worked a shaky 10th, allowing consecutive one-out singles to Edgar Gonzalez, Brian Giles and Adrian Gonzalez to load the bases for Kevin Kouzmanoff.

But Wilson was bailed out by rookie shortstop Ivan Ochoa, who turned a dramatic 6-3 double play on Kouzmanoff's grounder up the middle to end the threat. It was Wilson's 29th save in 31 opportunities, including 20 straight.

"(Wilson) has a tendency to keep you on the edge of your seat," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "But he made a pitch when we needed it.

"Ochoa, what a play he made. He had the instincts to take it himself and saved us there."

Romo worked a scoreless ninth to collect his first major league victory.

"We had four good at-bats, but we just couldn't quite get it through the middle there," Padres manager Bud Black said. "(Ochoa) made a great play; (he showed) great range and great footwork."

Trailing 2-1, San Diego used an eighth-inning home run by Adrian Gonzalez to knot the score and force extra innings.

San Francisco reliever Tyler Walker retired the only batter he faced in the eighth before Bochy summoned lefthander Jack Taschner to face two consecutive left-handed batters.

Taschner struck out Giles, but Gonzalez belted his first offering into the left field seats to even the score at 2-2 and spoil another splendid outing by San Francisco starter Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum, who struck out 13 in his last start but did not receive a decision in the Giants' 5-3 loss to the Diamondbacks on Saturday, allowed one run over seven innings and fanned 11.

"We didn't put a lot of runs on the board, but it was just enough," Bochy said. "It starts with (Lincecum). We can't say enough about the job he has done. That's two games in a row we haven't held it for him."

It marked the fifth time the major league leader in strikeouts has recorded a double-digit strikeout total, but it was the third such start in which he came away empty.

"I found myself in more of a rhythm early on," Lincecum said. "I'm still just as pumped right now. It's a big win for us - any win is big for us right now, so when we can scratch out a win, I'm happy."

Luis Rodriguez had a pair of hits, including an RBI single for the Padres, who fell to 0-3 against San Francisco at Petco Park.