The San Francisco Giants came into Wednesday night's game having won four in a row, with three of those four coming as walk-off wins in their last at-bat. The Giants weren't able to walk off at home against the Arizona Diamondbacks, but they did notch their fifth straight home win, and seventh win out of their last eight.
The early scoring was all Arizona. Kelly Johnson doubled to start the game, coming around to score on a Stephen Drew single. Henry Blanco singled home a run in the second, and then added a solo homer in the fourth -- Blanco's third home run in seven career at-bats against Jonathan Sanchez. The left-handed starter settled down, though, pitching six full innings, striking out seven and walking two.
The Giants chipped away at the lead, with Miguel Tejada -- who had his best night as a Giant -- singling home a run with two outs in the bottom of the fourth. Arizona starter Armando Galarraga started coming apart, as he walked Jonathan Sanchez to extend the inning with two outs, and then threw a wild pitch for the Giants' second run of the inning.
Struggling Aubrey Huff led off the bottom of the fifth with a solo home run to right field, and after a Tejada double with one out in the sixth, Andres Torres, fresh off the disabled list, stung a double that bounced over the center-field wall for the go-ahead run. Armando Galarraga pitched 5-1/3 innings for the Diamondbacks, taking the loss after allowing all four runs.
Ramon Ramirez, Javier Lopez, and Sergio Romo combined for scoreless seventh and eighth innings, and Brian Wilson came in for a stressful-yet-successful save in the ninth.
The series continues tomorrow with Daniel Hudson going for Arizona, and Matt Cain starting for the Giants.
For more on the Diamondbacks and Giants, please read team blogs AZ Snakepit and McCovey Chronicles