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Giants bullpen helps Correia end drought

Jul 29, 2008 - 6:31 AM LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- Kevin Correia needed some help to snap a long losing streak.

Correia pitched 5 1/3 innings and added a pair of RBI to lead the San Francisco Giants to a 7-6 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Monday night.

The 27-year-old righthander Correia (2-5) allowed six runs - four earned - and seven hits while striking out five. The Giants' bullpen logged 3 2/3 scoreless innings to help Correia claim his first victory since April 10.

"It just seemed like I was cursed to not get the win tonight," Correia said. "I didn't care if I gave up fifteen runs, I just wanted this win."

Correia also contributed on offense, driving in a pair of runs as the Giants struck five times in the fourth inning to build a 7-0 lead.

"I just got lucky and hit a good pitch," Correia said. "Just nice to help myself out when I can and the guys did a great job putting runs on the board for me to work with tonight."

Aaron Rowand started the rally with a one-out single to left-center field and advanced to third on a base hit by rookie John Bowker before Rich Aurilia loaded the bases by reaching on a groundball to starter Hiroki Kuroda.

After Omar Vizquel struck out, Correia ripped a groundball up the middle, plating Rowand and Bowker.

"It was a good all around game for him (Correia)," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He pitched a great game except for a couple mistakes and helped himself out with a big hit."

Fred Lewis, Jose Castillo and Randy Winn all followed with RBI singles, bouncing Kuroda from the game. A Japanese import, Kuroda (5-8) was pounded for seven runs and nine hits in just 3 2/3 innings.

"Kuroda just wasn't locating his fastball and he had a good splitter at times," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "His curveball was erratic at times and he just doesn't look comfortable out there."

Correia retired the first 10 batters he faced before allowing the Dodgers back into the game by surrendering five runs in the fifth.

"I felt really good every inning and I'm happy with myself since I continued to make pitches and keep pitching my game and gave us a chance for the win," Correia said.

Andre Ethier and Angel Berroa had RBI singles in the inning before Mark Sweeney dealt the biggest blow, driving in two with a double to left field and scoring one batter later when Juan Pierre bunted to catcher Bengie Molina, who threw the ball away at first.

"It's been a long time since I have been able to get up there and come through with a big hit," Sweeney said. "We managed to give ourselves a chance to win but just came up short."

Andruw Jones' RBI single in the sixth off reliever Alex Hinshaw, who replaced Correia with Casey Blake on third, narrowed the deficit to just one but also accounted for the final run.

Tyler Walker and Jack Taschner each logged perfect frames in the seventh and eighth before closer Brian Wilson earned his 28th save of the season with a flawless ninth.

"It was a tight ball game and there was a sense of urgency out there for our (bullpen) tonight," Wilson said. "But we stepped up and did a great job."