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Roberts lifts Giants past Dodgers

Sep 27, 2008 - 7:49 AM By Al Barba PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

SAN FRANCISCO (Ticker) -- Dave Roberts' RBI single in the bottom of the 10th inning lifted the San Francisco Giants to a 6-5 victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Friday.

Omar Vizquel doubled down the line in right field with two outs off Jason Johnson (1-2) before Roberts ended the game with a base hit to right, which barely avoided the reach of diving second baseman Pablo Ozuna.

"It's nice just to get a win and see us play hard and it was a fun game," Roberts said.

Tyler Walker (5-8) pitched a perfect top of the 10th to earn the win after Dodgers closer Jonathan Broxton blew the save in the ninth by allowing an unearned run on a sacrifice fly by Steve Holm.

Russell Martin provided ninth-inning dramatics with a two-out, two-run home run off San Francisco closer Brian Wilson that gave Los Angeles a 5-4 lead. It was the second home run of the inning allowed by Wilson, who surrendered a leadoff blast to James Loney.

Broxton was unable to hold the lead. Randy Winn opened the frame with a leadoff single and was forced out at second on a fielder's choice by rookie Eugenio Velez. The Giants' second baseman stole second and advanced to third on a throwing error by Martin.

After rookie Scott McClain walked following a 12-pitch at-bat, Holm plated Velez with the tying run.

A go-ahead single by rookie Pablo Sandoval and sacrifice fly Rich Aurilia in the seventh had given the Giants a 4-2 lead.

Roberts' heroics capped an unusual night that saw a Bengie Molina single reversed to a home run in which he was not credited with a run scored.

Molina hit a drive to right field that hit at the top of the 25-foot wall and was ruled a single by first base umpire Chuck Meriwether.

Emmanuel Burriss was then inserted as a pinch-runner and Giants manager Bruce Bochy came out to question the call and ask for a review - the first replay in AT&T Park history. After reviewing the play, the umpires, led by crew chief Tim Welke, reversed the call and ruled it a home run.

"I was curious to see how long it (replay) would take. I didn't have any problem with it - the fact that this wrinkle was added and made it longer," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said. "It was light-hearted. There was no arguing. The fact it happened is important for the baseball side of it. It may force them to make a ruling."

Because Burriss was announced and in the game, he completed the trot around the bases, while Molina was credited with a home run, two RBI and no run scored following a 14-minute delay.

"It was kind of like a twilight zone thing. It was a pretty weird situation," Roberts said. "I guess you see something different every day and I told Emmanuel Burriss he's going to be a trivia question for a long time to come."

Burriss is hoping this cements his place in baseball history.

"I'm hoping they have the Manny Burriss rule now," he said. "Maybe something good can happen out of it and I can get in the history books and that'll be nice, especially since we won. If we lose that game because I can't pinch run later in the game or we don't have Bengie then it (stinks), but now that we won it's something we can look back and laugh at."

The ruling by the umpires to not allow Molina to run the bases, prompted Bochy to play the remainder of the game under protest.

"We couldn't tell if it was out and the umpires didn't see it," Bochy said. "Omar came up and said he thought it hit the metal. He got the umpires together and we all saw it the same. The ball came back and it had green on it. There is no way to tell if that ball left the ballpark unless you did review it and they did the right thing."

Welke said he referred to the only rule he could.

"Bochy wanted to reinsert Molina into the game but he doesn't get another bite at that," he said. "We know the rules. Once a pinch runner touches a base he's in the game whether he's put in or not. Bochy wanted to protest the game. You can't go back and revisit history. We informed the official scorer that the game was being protested.

"In retrospect, he should have come out and discussed it before (using) the pinch runner. There is a rule that covers pinch runners and that's the one we went by. All we have is the rules. This was a learning experience for everybody. The system worked and we got it right."