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Wednesday, Jun. 7 10:05pm ET
Red-hot Erstad burns Giants | |||||
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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
ANAHEIM, Calif. (AP) -- Not even Alan Embree's best pitch on his best night had a chance against Darin Erstad. "He beat me on a pitch I would make again. That's probably the best stuff I had all season, but everything must look like a watermelon to him now," Embree said after Erstad's tie-breaking single with two outs in the eighth gave the Anaheim Angels a 10-9 victory over San Francisco on Wednesday night. Erstad lined Embree's down-and-away two-seam fastball to the opposite field, scoring Bengie Molina from second base with his fifth RBI of the night. He already had a pair of two-run homers, and his 3-for-5 effort capped a six-game homestand during which he went 15-for-28 to raise his league-leading average to .388. "You work hard to put yourself in a position to get the job done," Erstad said. "Sometimes it happens, and sometimes it doesn't. For whatever reason, it's happening for us now." With Molina, Anaheim's catcher, running from second, left fielder Barry Bonds aggressively charged Erstad's hit. But he failed to make a clean pickup, as the ball squirted under Bonds' glove and behind him. "Molina's not the fleetest of foot, and I knew there was going to be a play at the plate," Erstad said. "Until I saw him misplay it. Those things happen." "If he gets that ball, with the catcher running, he's got a hell of a shot of throwing him out," said Giants manager Dusty Baker, who seemed worn out by San Francisco's ninth loss in its last 10 one-run games. The defeat kept Baker one victory short of matching Roger Craig's San Francisco record of 586 wins. "I can't remember ever going through such a stretch," Baker said. "We're playing good, and we're close to being excellent." The Giants had enough to come back from deficits of 4-0 and 9-4, but not enough to finish it. Erstad broke a 4-all tie in the fifth with a two-run homer off Russ Ortiz, then connected for another two-run shot that capped a three-run sixth and put the Angels ahead 9-4. It was his first multihomer game this season, third of his career. Kent Bottenfield allowed seven hits and four walks in six innings, leaving with a 9-4 lead. Jeff Kent and Armando Rios hit two-run homers in the seventh off Al Levine. Kent's homer was his 17th. J.T. Snow's second RBI single tied it against Shigetoshi Hasegawa (5-1) in the eighth. Snow has 57 RBI in interleague play, most in the majors. Ken Griffey Jr. is next with 48. Molina and Edgard Clemente then singled in the bottom half off Embree (0-2), setting up Erstad's hit. Hasegawa mowed down the Giants with a 1-2-3 ninth as Anaheim closer Troy Percival took the night off after pitching the previous three nights. "We got the big closer here, and I like my job," said Hasegawa, normally Anaheim's setup man. "When I can help him out, I do it." Ortiz, who has one win in his last eight starts, gave up eight runs and nine hits in five-plus innings. Anaheim went ahead 4-0 in the first on Mo Vaughn's RBI single and Troy Glaus' 17th homer, a three-run shot. San Francisco tied it in the third on Rich Aurilia's two-run homer, Kent's sacrifice fly and Snow's RBI single. Game notesOrtiz has allowed 17 homers, including two or more in seven of 12 starts. ... Top Anaheim reserve outfielder Orlando Palmeiro went 2-for-2 in a rare start and has hit in 13 of 14 starts (.354). ... Both of Erstad's homers were caught by the same fan in the center-field pavilion, Tony Montes. ... The Giants are 4-14 in one-run games, the Angels 14-9. ...The three-game interleague series drew only 60,538. ... Giants OF Ellis Burks was 0-for-15 in the series. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard San Francisco Clubhouse Anaheim Clubhouse RECAPS Chi. White Sox 6 Cincinnati 4
Anaheim 10
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