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Diamondbacks rally to defeat Giants 8-7

May 21, 2010 - 6:35 AM By MATT PAULSON AP Sports Writer

PHOENIX(AP) -- The Arizona Diamondbacks discovered a patient approach may be the best one when facing San Francisco ace Tim Lincecum.

Their aggressive play late gave them a two-game sweep of the Giants.

Conor Jackson scored the tiebreking run on a wild pitch with two outs in the eighth inning and Arizona rallied past San Francisco for an 8-7 victory Thursday night.

Mark Reynolds hit his 100th career home run and had three RBIs, and Stephen Drew drove in two runs for the Diamondbacks, who won for only the third time in 19 games when trailing after six innings.

"It's a big win," manager A.J. Hinch said. "This does show everyone what this team is capable of. We can play a little bit when we put our minds to it and maintain our approach."

Reynolds was at the plate when Jeremy Affeldt (2-3) bounced a pitch well short of the plate. The ball didn't get very far from catcher Eli Whiteside, and Adam LaRoche, who was at first, said he was surprised Jackson broke for home.

"I didn't think there was any chance he was going, and I look up and he's breaking," LaRoche said. "He just had a great read on it. He was obviously expecting it."

Affeldt said he thought he would be able to tag Jackson out.

"They were pretty aggressive on that ball," he said. "I threw it where I wanted it. Whitey did a great job of putting his chest on it, and it just bounced a little outside of him. I'm surprised they ran, but they did and it worked."

San Francisco nearly got out of the inning one batter earlier when LaRoche grounded into what could have been a double play, but shortstop Juan Uribe fumbled the throw from second baseman Freddy Sanchez and the Giants recorded only one out.

"Had the right guy running, got the groundball we wanted," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Didn't execute there. Juan had trouble getting the ball out of his glove."

Jackson, who led off the inning with a double, advanced to third on the play, setting up the winning run.

Uribe and John Bowker hit home runs and Aubrey Huff had two RBIs for the Giants, who rallied from a 5-2 deficit to prevent Lincecum from losing for the first time this season.

Lincecum lasted only five innings after giving up five runs and five hits. He had gone at least six innings in each of his first eight starts this year and hadn't given up more than three runs. The NL leader in strikeouts fanned six to bring his season total to 75, but he also walked five for the second straight start.

He allowed only two hits in the first four innings but needed 68 pitches to get those 12 outs.

"We were trying to see a lot of pitches and get his pitch count up early," Reynolds said. "In doing that, we got in some hitting counts and had a lot of guys put some good swings on him."

Two of Lincecum's strikeouts were of Reynolds, giving him 12 in 18 career at-bats, but Reynolds finally got the better of the two-time Cy Young winner in the fifth when he launched a two-run homer to deep left to highlight a five-run inning that put Arizona up 5-2.

"I had seen all his pitches my previous two at-bats," Reynolds said. "I've been struggling a lot lately, so I was trying to hit a line drive. He left a fastball that came back over the plate, and I just took a swing on it."

The five runs are the most Lincecum has given up against Arizona in 10 career starts.

Aaron Heilman (1-1) pitched 1 2-3 hitless innings but allowed the tying run to reach base in the ninth when he walked pinch-hitter Matt Downs.

Chad Qualls then struck out Uribe for his seventh save in 10 attempts.

Arizona tied it at 7 in the seventh when pinch-hitter Chris Young and Reynolds each came up with an RBI double.

The Diamondbacks evened the score at 2 in the fifth on Stephen Drew's two-run triple and took the lead one batter later on Justin Upton's sacrifice fly.

San Francisco answered with five runs in the sixth for a 7-5 advantage. Uribe and Bowker hit consecutive homers to lead off the inning and Huff capped it with a two-run double.

Arizona starter Rodrigo Lopez gave up six runs and 10 hits in five innings.

Bochy was ejected in the ninth inning for arguing balls and strikes.

"Every borderline call it seems like we couldn't get," he said.

NOTES: After the Giants were held to four hits Wednesday, Bochy made several changes to his lineup, including batting Lincecum eighth, ahead of OF Andres Torres. It is the first time this season San Francisco has had a starting pitcher bat eighth. ... Giants OF Nate Schierholtz injured his left shoulder while diving for a ball in Wednesday's game but an MRI taken on Thursday revealed only a bruise. Bochy said he will give Schierholtz the next few days off.