| |
RECAP
|
BOX SCORE
|
GAME LOG
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Rich Aurilia and his teammates felt they
needed to strike early, and then went out and did it.
Aurilia hit a three-run homer that capped a six-run first inning
against Kerry Wood, and the San Francisco Giants beat the Chicago
Cubs 7-2 Friday night.
Jeff Kent later homered off Wood as the NL West leaders won for
the fourth time in five games.
"If you're going to get to Kerry Wood, you've got to get him
early," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "It looked like he was
throwing the ball well, but we had guys swinging the bat good from
the start. It's good to be home. There was a lot of electricity out
there."
Mark Gardner (10-6) earned his third victory in a row. He
pitched one-hit ball into the sixth inning.
The 64th straight sellout crowd at Pacific Bell Park boosted the
Giants' home attendance to 2,619,520, a franchise record.
Wood (6-7) gave up six runs in an inning for the first time in
the majors. He hit Marvin Benard to start the first, then Bill
Mueller and Barry Bonds singled for a 1-0 lead.
After walking Kent to load the bases, Wood allowed a sacrifice
fly to J.T. Snow and an RBI single to Ellis Burks. Aurilia followed
with his 15th homer.
"I was just trying to put the bat on the ball," said Aurilia.
"I haven't been swinging the bat too well lately. I was happy it
got out of the park."
Kent hit his 30th homer of the year to lead off the fifth,
hitting the first pitch from Wood into the left-field bleachers.
Kent is 6-for-11 lifetime against Wood with three homers.
"I left balls up, but they were hitting every pitch I threw,"
said Wood. "Even the outs were hard hit. They were pretty much
sitting on the fastball. I didn't get ahead of hitters and they
were taking batting practice."
Wood was pulled after the fifth inning. He had been 3-0 in eight
starts since his previous loss July 2 at Milwaukee.
"He settled down and grinded it out," said Cubs manager Don
Baylor. "He could have quit, but he didn't."
Gardner retired the first nine batters. He gave up two runs and
four hits in seven innings.
Gardner has given up just four earned runs in 26 2/3 innings
(1.35 ERA) in his last four starts.
"We definitely feel confident at home," said Gardner. "We
don't beat ourselves here. I just tried to get ahead and stay
ahead. It was nice to see us go up early because you can go out and
challenge the hitters."
The Cubs scored twice in the sixth. Eric Young singled, stole
second and went to third on Gary Matthews Jr.'s infield single.
Sammy Sosa hit a sacrifice fly to deepest part of the ballpark,
421 feet from home plate, and Ricky Gutierrez followed with a
run-scoring single.
Game notes
Giants OF Armando Rios missed the game with bruises to his
left knee and left elbow after running into the fence in Pittsburgh
making a running catch on Thursday. He's also doubtful for
Saturday. ... The Cubs recalled INF Jose Nieves before the game as
part of their September roster expansion. ... The Giants added
seven players to their roster: C Scott Servais, RHP Miguel Del
Toro, INF Pedro Feliz, INF Damon Minor, ING Juan Melo, OF Terrell
Lowery and RHP Ryan Vogelsong. ... Giants RHP John Johnstone made a
rehab start with Triple-A Fresno in Tucson on Friday, giving up one
hit in two innings. ... Young collected his 11th three-hit game of
the season and his 44th multi-hit game. ... Burks extended his
hitting streak to 12 games.
| |
ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Chicago Cubs Clubhouse
San Francisco Clubhouse
RECAPS
Boston 6
Seattle 2
Cleveland 5
Baltimore 2
Detroit 7
Texas 5
NY Yankees 4
Minnesota 2
Toronto 4
Oakland 3
Kansas City 9
Tampa Bay 5
Chi. White Sox 9
Anaheim 8
Cincinnati 8
Montreal 2
Houston 3
Atlanta 2
St. Louis 6
NY Mets 5
Colorado 5
Milwaukee 3
Florida 8
Arizona 7
Pittsburgh 3
San Diego 2
Los Angeles 2
Philadelphia 1
San Francisco 7
Chicago Cubs 2
|