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Durham keys four-run sixth as Giants down Royals

Jun 21, 2008 - 5:20 AM By Marc Bowman PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Ticker) -- Ray Durham's bases-clearing double helped the San Francisco Giants to a come-from-behind, 9-4 victory over the Kansas City Royals on Friday.

The Giants pounded out 13 hits and scored eight runs with two outs to win for just the third time in their last 10 games and post just their second interleague victory of the season.

With two out in the sixth, San Francisco loaded the bases against Kansas City reliever Yasuhiko Yabuta (1-3) before Durham drove a 2-2 pitch to the right field fence off Royals rookie reliever Carlos Rosa, snapping a 4-4 tie.

"I knew the guy threw hard," Durham said. "I waited to get something I could handle. I just wanted to put the ball in play. The guy throws 96 (miles per hour), but I knew I was in the driver's seat when it got to 2-0. He threw me a good fastball, then threw another one and I fouled it off. He's a fastball pitcher so I've got to be looking fastball."

After scoring on Randy Winn's double to expand the Giants' advantage to 8-4, Durham left the game with a mild right ankle sprain. He is listed as day-to-day.

"I actually hurt it on the swing," Durham said. "I planted and it just didn't do what it was supposed to do. It's kind of hour-to-hour right now. We'll see how it is tomorrow."

"We decided to not take a chance, so we took him out after that," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Ray can hit. He was facing a hard thrower. To get a hit like that just shows you what kind of talent he has."

Winn reached base safely four times and drove in a pair of runs.

"Two-out scoring is really important," Winn said. "Getting hits to add on is big. We came up with some hits with two outs in those situations."

Matt Cain (4-5) hurled eight innings, allowing four runs and five hits with one walk and eight strikeouts. The 23-year-old righthander surrendered just two singles after the first inning in winning only his third game since April and his first in interleague play since defeating the Angels on June 19, 2006.

"Giving up three in the first, you definitely put pressure on yourself," Cain said. "It was just one inning with a big, crooked number. But if you can't live with yourself for giving up some runs, you just can't pitch. We made some adjustments and kind of stayed away from the changeup. Mainly, we tried to work either side of the plate with fastballs."

"You can't say enough about how he pitched," Bochy said. "He gave us the chance to have the comeback."

After the Royals jumped ahead, 4-0, in the third inning, the Giants cut the lead in half with a pair of fourth-inning runs. Aaron Rowand and John Bowker doubled and scored with two out ahead of Rich Aurilia's RBI single.

San Francisco plated two more in the fifth as Fred Lewis' extended his hitting streak to a career-best 10 games before Bengie Molina singled to bring in Durham, tying the score at 4-4 and driving Royals starter Luke Hochevar from the game.

The 24-year-old righthander went 4 2/3 innings, allowing four runs and nine hits with two walks.

"My ball just started climbing in the strike zone," Hochevar said. "I was battling to get it back down, but it seemed that everything I threw was up in the zone. When my ball was up, it got hit. When it was down, I got the ground balls. My ball was up in the strike zone and I paid for it."

David DeJesus extended his hitting streak to six games by leading off the first inning with a double off second baseman Durham's glove. DeJesus also walked, stole second and scored on rookie Mike Aviles' sacrifice fly in the third for Kansas City's final run of the game.

The loss snapped the Royals' five-game winning streak, their longest since opening the 2003 season with nine straight wins.