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Giants survive Gonzalez homers to snap losing skid

Apr 11, 2007 - 7:27 AM SAN DIEGO (Ticker) -- Bengie Molina and the San Francisco Giants finally scored some runs. It turns out they needed every one.

Molina drove in two runs and Barry Bonds Bonds added an RBI and scored a run as the Giants posted a 6-5 victory over the San Diego Padres.

With the win, the Giants snapped their four-game losing streak. The six runs San Francisco scored against San Diego matched the total it had scored in its four-game slide.

"We did a much better job," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy, who dropped Bonds into the cleanup spot after batting him third in each game this year. "We tweaked the lineup just to see if we could get this offense going a little bit. I thought the guys bounced back well and did a good job tonight."

Righthander Matt Morris (2-0) allowed two runs and seven hits in 5 1/3 innings. He struck out three and walked four to beat the Padres for the second time in six days.

"I was OK today," Morris said. "I gave up a lot of hits here and there, but made the pitches when I needed to. We played great defense and got some runs early that got us on the board. That helps. Any time you get an early lead, it allows the pitcher to relax a little."

Molina drove in runs in the second and fourth inning and the Giants led, 6-2, in the seventh before Adrian Gonzalez hit a solo home run off of Kevin Correia to pull the Padres within 6-3. Gonzalez made it, 6-5, with two outs in the ninth when he hit a two-run homer off Giants closer Armando Benitez.

"That's part of character, you know, we keep fighting until that last out," Gonzalez said. "There were certainly a few occassions where we could've used a break here or there. But, you can't worry about that. We didn't score one more run, and it's just part of the game. The game gives and takes away, and today it took away from us."

The Giants benefited from some defensive miscues by San Diego in the second. After second baseman Marcus Giles booted a ground ball of Bonds' bat, center fielder Mike Cameron lost a ball in the dusk sky to give Ray Durham a double.

"Those are just unfortunate," Padres manager Bud Black said. "That time of night, the ball goes up and just the way the clouds are, it's tough to pick the ball up. We're talking about a guy (Cameron) who has won three Gold Gloves, and he won them for a reason."

"We built on some mistakes and got some key hits," Giants first baseman Ryan Klesko said. "Molina picked me up and came up with a big hit. That's the stuff that we need to get going. We played all-around pretty good baseball today."

Benitez got Khalil Greene to fly out to center to end the game and record his second save of the season.

"Armando, with a three-run lead, he's going to challenge hitters," Bochy said. "I thought he had good stuff, but he just hung a slider there (to Gonzalez). He settled down and made good pitches."

Gonzalez also had an RBI single off Morris in the fifth ad finished with four RBI.

"We just keep battling, which is great," Black said. "It's a great sign. Our guys are playing all 27 outs, and our bats came alive there towards the later part of the game."

Clay Hensley (0-2) allowed six runs and six hits in 4 1/3 innings. He struck out four and walked two in losing to the Giants, and Morris, for the second time this season.

"Early in the game, I thought (Hensley) threw the ball well," Black said. "He was sort of a victim of some unfortunate circumstances in the (second) inning. Overall, Clay was not as sharp as he probably will be. Actually, I thought his stuff was probably better than it was last start. It just didn't happen for him."

Three Padres relievers combined to throw 4 2/3 shutout innings, and the San Diego bullpen has yet to allow a run in this season through eight games (25 1/3 innings), a franchise record.