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Rowand, Giants hold off rival Dodgers

Apr 13, 2011 - 7:16 AM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Aaron Rowand tripled in the seventh and scored on a wild pitch to go on top, and the Giants held on for a 5-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Rowand finished with two hits and an RBI while Buster Posey knocked in a pair of runs for the Giants, who have knotted up the three-game series.

Tim Lincecum was shaky in his first game of the season in front of the home crowd, giving up three runs in the fourth before being removed in the sixth. Jeremy Affeldt (1-0) got the win, tossing a one-run seventh.

Marcus Thames had a solo home run while Matt Kemp had a pair of hits and an RBI for the Dodgers, who had won three of their last four contests before Tuesday's setback. Blake Hawksworth (1-1) got the loss, throwing the wild pitch to allow Rowand to score.

Thames launched a pinch-hit solo shot into the left field seats to deadlock the game at four in the top of the seventh inning.

The Giants got out of the inning without any further damage, which set up Rowand's leadoff triple that landed deep in the spacious right-center field gap at AT&T Park. Hawksworth then threw a pitch into the dirt that skirted to the backstop and allowed Rowand to score with ease.

From there, the Giants bullpen did its job. Brian Wilson came in the ninth, striking out all three batters, to get his first save of the season.

After three scoreless innings, it looked to be a pitchers' dual. However, LA tagged Lincecum for three runs to start the fourth. Jamey Carroll and Andre Ethier had one-out singles while Kemp's opposite field double plated Carroll.

Jamey Loney then came up and hit a hard chopper to first and Brandon Belt bobbled the ball to allow Ethier to score. Juan Uribe's double finished the run burst, sending Kemp home.

The Giants, though, scored the next four runs to take the lead.

Freddy Sanchez hit a one-out double and scored on Buster Posey's single through the left side of the infield. Posey then crossed home from first on Pablo Sandoval's double to make it a one-run game.

"We did a great job of answering back," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "We did a good job of keeping the line moving."

After a 1-2-3 fifth by Lincecum, the Giants' offense put up two more runs. Belt led off with a single, moved over on Lincecum's sacrifice bunt and scored on Rowand's single.

Posey came up big again to give the Giants the lead on a line drive up the middle to plate Rowand.

Game Notes

The Dodgers left seven runners on base, while the Giants were 3-for-7 with runners in scoring position...The game lasted three hours...Lincecum threw 115 pitches, 70 of them were strikes. He gave up six hits, a walk and three runs while fanning four..Dodgers starter Chad Billingsley went five innings, allowing four runs on seven hits. He also had six strikeouts.