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Winn, Molina help Giants end slide

Aug 16, 2008 - 4:46 AM By Phil Foley PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

ATLANTA (Ticker) -- Randy Winn and Bengie Molina each collected four hits and drove in two runs as the San Francisco Giants halted a four-game losing streak Friday with a 5-1 triumph over the Atlanta Braves.

Dave Roberts, Fred Lewis and Travis Ishikawa added two hits apiece for the Giants, who clinged to a 2-1 lead before scoring twice in the eighth and once in the ninth.

Matt Cain (8-9) worked seven strong innings, allowing one run and six hits. The righthander walked one and struck out five while throwing 73 of his 110 pitches for strikes for the Giants, who were swept of a four-game series in Houston.

"It's nice to be the guy to stop the (skid)," Cain said. "It was not going so well for us in Houston."

The 23-year-old Cain has been sensational of late, even though his strong performances have not translated into many wins. The righthander entered Friday's contest against the struggling Braves with a sparkling 1.90 ERA over his previous six starts but had notched the win in just two of those outings as San Francisco's offense averaged just two runs per game over that span.

"He's thrown the ball outstanding over the stretch," Winn said. "He's not a guy that complains about run support. He goes out and battles. I'm glad we were able to get him a win today. He was outstanding."

"He's had a lot of good games against us," Atlanta starter Jair Jurrjens said. "He's a good pitcher. I think it's going to be a good matchup (facing him) next year."

This time, Cain's teammates came through at the plate.

Winn ignited the Giants' lethargic offense by lacing a one-out single off Jurrjens (11-8) in the first, advancing to second on a groundout and scoring on Molina's single before driving in a run in the third with a sacrifice fly that doubled the lead.

The Braves halved the deficit in the sixth on a run-scoring single by Chipper Jones, who leads the majors with a .366 batting average.

But Winn put away the game in the eighth, depositing the 3-1 offering from reliever Will Ohman into the left-center field bleachers for his sixth homer of the year and 100th career.

The 34-year-old Winn got back the ball from a Braves fan after a tenuous negotiation with team officials, who traded autographed balls by Atlanta's Jones and Brian McCann as well as one of Winn's bats.

"It's not a number I really focused on," Winn said of his 100th blast. "A few years from now, I'm going to retire and look back at it and look at it fondly."

Winn, who finished 4-for-4, almost recorded the second cycle in as many nights at Turner Field. One day after Mark Kotsay accomplished the feat, Winn - who needed a triple - hit a shot over Kotsay in left-center field in the ninth that bounced over the wall for a ground-rule double.

"I was not even thinking about (the cycle)," Winn said. "I didn't even know about it. I was just thinking that I hope it gets over his head."

Ishikawa made it a 4-1 advantage later in the inning with an RBI single and Molina delivered a run-scoring base hit in the ninth to provide the final margin.

The bumbling Braves wasted another superb outing by Jurrjens, who yielded two runs and eight hits with nine strikeouts.

"I did all I could to help the team win," said Jurrjens, who claimed he was not frustrated by the lack of support. "When you get frustrated, you're not helping anything. You just need to keep getting better every day."

Jurrjens has dropped three of his last four games despite recording a quality start in each outing.

"He's got everything to be proud of," Braves manager Bobby Cox said. "He can't do the hitting. He pitched a super ballgame and got a lot of strikeouts."

The offensive malaise is par for the course for Atlanta at Turner Field. The club, which has been outscored, 34-10, in the first four games of its seven-game homestand, has dropped 21 of its last 29 here.

Kotsay, who became the first Brave since Albert Hall in 1987 to hit for the cycle in Thursday's loss to the Chicago Cubs, had two hits.

"I'd trade the cycle for a win," Kotsay said. "I'd trade two hits for a win. We have three games left in the homestand to turn it on."