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Two-run double by Aurilia leads Giants over Nationals

Jul 24, 2008 - 7:23 AM By Ryan McCrary PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Rich Aurilia helped the San Francisco Giants overcome their dismal home record on Wednesday night.

Aurilia's two-run double in the bottom of the eighth inning lifted the Giants to a 6-4 victory over the Washington Nationals.

San Francisco, which entered Wednesday's contest with the worst home record in the major leagues at 18-31, appeared headed for yet another loss at AT&T Park as it trailed, 4-3, entering the eighth.

But Aurilia stroked a changeup from Nationals reliever Luis Ayala (1-6) to center field with one out, plating rookies John Bowker and Emmanuel Burriss, who was brought in to run for Bengie Molina after the veteran catcher led off the inning with a single to center. Omar Vizquel capped the rally with an RBI double of his own.

"He didn't throw me anything good to hit until that last pitch," Aurilia said. "You battle through and get something you can drive, and they were playing me way over in right-center - I didn't even pull that ball. It felt good to get a big hit after a good at-bat."

"Anytime you can come from behind, it is a great feeling," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It does so much for a club. It is something they can build on. It takes somebody to jump-start you, and Bengie did it with that base hit and it just got contagious. It takes somebody to get a clutch hit, and that is where Richie came through tonight for us."

Nationals manager Manny Acta admitted Ayala was not at his best.

"He continued to struggle with his location," Acta said. "He started the inning giving up a hit to Molina on an 0-2 count, and then Aurilia beat him on his fourth-best pitch. He's struggling. It was a pretty good game up until that."

All-Star Brian Wilson surrendered a one-out single and hit a batter in the ninth but struck out Kory Casto to end the game and notch his 27th save of the season.

"Tonight was a huge momentum boost for us," Wilson said. "Those runs in the eighth were huge. It was just good fortune for us."

Wilson preserved the win for rookie Geno Espineli (1-0), who recorded the final two outs of the top of the eighth.

With the victory, the Giants have posted consecutive home wins for the first time since June 2-3. They also recorded their first series win here since taking two of three against the Philadelphia Phillies from May 9-11.

"I can't remember the last time we won back-to-back games, let alone the last time we won a series at home," Aurilia said. "We've played pretty decently the last couple days and just let the ball roll. Hopefully (on Thursday), we'll go out and do the same thing."

San Francisco took an early lead, scoring a pair of runs with two outs in the first inning on back-to-back RBI doubles by Molina and Aaron Rowand.

Washington halved the deficit in the fifth, when Ryan Langerhans scored from second on a fielding error by first baseman Bowker.

The Giants answered with another two-out, run-scoring double by Molina in the bottom of the frame, but the Nationals scored three times in the sixth to move ahead.

Austin Kearns singled sharply to lead off the inning against San Francisco starter Kevin Correia and Jesus Flores followed with his seventh home run of the season, tying the game at 3-3. Four batters later, pinch hitter Johnny Estrada gave Washington its first lead in the series with an RBI single to center.

"We got a lot of hits, but not many for extra bases or hits with runners in scoring position," Acta said.