Dodgers 3 - 5 Giants
Final
  for this game

Belt, Bumgarner shine for Giants in win over LA

Jul 20, 2011 - 7:08 AM San Francisco, CA (Sports Network) - Brandon Belt provided the difference offensively against the Dodgers and showed why he's regarded as the Giants' top hitting prospect.

Recalled from Triple-A Fresno in the middle of this three-game set, Belt homered in his first at-bat and added a tie-breaking, two-run double in the seventh to send San Francisco to a 5-3 win, its sixth straight against Los Angeles.

"Those were two pretty good at-bats," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Belt in his first game in the majors since May 31. "It was a shot in the arm for us. He should feel very good about his night."

Madison Bumgarner (5-9) gave up three runs in the third inning but was otherwise unhittable, retiring the final 16 batters he faced to win for the first time this month.

The 21-year-old lefty struck out seven over eight innings, had an RBI groundout and improved to 11-1 in his career when receiving three or more runs of support.

The Giants have won seven of their last eight and will go for the sweep on Wednesday afternoon with Tim Lincecum facing fellow All-Star Clayton Kershaw.

Belt struggled to a .211 average in his first 19 games in the big leagues and suffered an even bigger setback when he broke his left wrist. He regained his stroke at Fresno, compiling a 1.011 on-base plus slugging percentage and showed that resurgence in a big spot Tuesday.

Andres Torres, who scored the tying run in the fifth, set the table for Belt by doubling off Hong-Chih Kuo (0-1) to open the seventh before moving to third on Mike Fontenot's sacrifice bunt.

The streaking Pablo Sandoval was given an intentional free pass and was replaced on the basepaths by Manny Burriss. Kuo guessed right and threw over to first as Burriss broke for second, but James Loney's high throw allowed the speedster to slide in safely for the steal.

Another intentional walk was issued to Cody Ross after Nate Schierholtz struck out, and the left-handed Belt stepped in and slapped a double down the left- field line to bring in a pair.

The Giants left the bases loaded, but with Bumgarner on top of his game, the two-run lead was more than enough.

He was pulled after eight frames having thrown 105 pitches, and Brian Wilson shook off Matt Kemp's two-out single in the ninth to lock down his 29th save and send the Dodgers to their fourth straight loss.

Dodgers catcher Rod Barajas says they're pressing right now at the plate.

"It's easy to say, but once you get in that moment, you want to help out the team so much sometimes you do too much and don't produce," Barajas said.

Belt provided the game's first run when he sent Rubby De La Rosa's 1-2 fastball deep down the right-field line for his second big league home run.

The Giants added another run in the second frame when Brandon Crawford scored on a groundout by Bumgarner, who quickly gave up the 2-0 lead in the next half-inning.

Tony Gwynn Jr. doubled to the right field wall to bring in the first run, then scored alongside Barajas on Rafael Furcal's dribbler up the middle. Juan Rivera kept the hits coming with a single to right, but he was caught too far off first as Crawford cut off the throw to third and threw back to Belt covering first for the out.

Bumgarner took over from there, and the Giants tied it, 3-3, with three straight singles to start the fifth, the last a Sandoval comebacker to center that plated Torres.

Game Notes

Bumgarner had a 5.36 earned run average at AT&T Park this season coming in. Tuesday's outing was his 14th quality start of the year...Sandoval has reached base safely in 27 straight games and has raised his batting average from .293 to .315 this month...San Fran's bullpen has allowed just one run in 21 2/3 innings after the All-Star break...The Giants placed infielder Miguel Tejada on the 15-day disabled list with a lower abdominal strain, though they traded two minor league pitchers to Houston for Jeff Keppinger to fill the void...De La Rosa was charged with three runs -- two earned -- on nine hits over his five-inning start.






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