MLB Selecciones
LAD

3

6-6
Final
SF

4

6-6
CronicaNumeritos
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
LAD 0 0 0 2 0 1 0 0 0 3 9 0
SF 1 1 0 0 0 2 0 0 - 4 9 0

W: Sanchez (4-7)

L: Lilly (12-14)

S: Wilson (36)

Oracle Park, San Francisco
Associated Press 13y

Pablo Sandoval, Mike Fontenot homers rally Giants past Dodgers

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Giants came from behind to win four times during their season-opening homestand -- and all by one run. For San Francisco, it's not far off from the style of play so familiar during last season's special run.

With all the World Series fanfare finally done, the Giants are ready to get in a groove.

Pablo Sandoval hit a tying solo home run in the sixth inning and last-minute fill-in Mike Fontenot connected two batters later, leading San Francisco past the Los Angeles Dodgers 4-3 on Wednesday night for a series win.

"It's huge to come back and get a series," said manager Bruce Bochy, whose club lost Monday's opener 6-1. "That's two series in a row we've gotten here."

Fontenot's two-out drive to the arcade in right-center off Ted Lilly (0-2) just did it for winning pitcher Jonathan Sanchez, who struck out a season-best nine in six innings. Sanchez has 24 K's over his first three starts.

Aaron Miles had a go-ahead RBI double in the top of the sixth among his three hits for his first multihit game of 2011, but the Dodgers' 3-2 lead didn't last long.

Sanchez (1-1) remained poised after allowing a two-run homer to Rod Barajas in the fourth that tied the game at 2.

It was Barajas' third homer of the year and second in this three-game series the Giants won.

Sanchez is 5-2 with a 1.64 ERA and 72 strikeouts since Aug. 30. A 13-game winner in 2010, the 28-year-old lefty is also 3-1 with a 2.10 ERA and 38 strikeouts and six walks over his past four outings against Los Angeles.

Closer Brian Wilson pitched a perfect ninth for the second straight night for his second save in three chances. San Francisco (6-6) has played six one-run games already, going 4-2.

"We had a lot of those last year. They used the word torture," Fontenot said. "It's good to get some wins like that."

Sandoval -- back to his slugging self after a rigorous offseason in which he dropped nearly 40 pounds -- and Fontenot were the catalysts with their power on a day home run king Barry Bonds was convicted across town of obstruction of justice stemming from December 2003 testimony to a grand jury that he never knowingly took steroids or performance-enhancing drugs.

Fontenot, who had all of about 10 minutes' warning he was going to start, hit his first home run as a Giant after being acquired in a trade with the Chicago Cubs last August. He was added to the starting lineup just before first pitch at second base in place of Mark DeRosa, who experienced soreness in his surgically repaired left wrist and was held out as a precaution. He had been set to play for starter Freddy Sanchez, kept out to rest his surgically repaired, non-throwing left shoulder.

Fontenot's previous homer came May 7 last year for the Cubs. He also hit an RBI double in the second Wednesday for his first hit of the year, snapping an 0-for-9 start.

"I was thinking about that, wondering if all the starting pitchers were going to get a hit before I was," he said. "I'm in here and ready. ... Sometimes that's how it happens."

San Francisco took two of three in this series after the Dodgers won two of three when the teams opened the season. The Giants now hit the road for 16 of their next 19 games, beginning Friday at Arizona following an off day Thursday.

This emotional series between the longtime rivals remained pretty tame after Monday's opener began with a joint on-field message of sportsmanship, respect and nonviolence by San Francisco's Jeremy Affeldt and Jamey Carroll of the Dodgers. Longtime Giants fan Bryan Stow was severely beaten outside Dodger Stadium on March 31 after the teams' season opener and is hospitalized in Los Angeles in a medically induced coma.

Lilly generated a warning for both benches after he hit reigning Rookie of the Year Buster Posey with pitches in the first inning and again in the third. On Tuesday night, Giants ace Tim Lincecum plunked former teammate Juan Uribe for the second time this year -- a day after Uribe received his World Series ring in an on-field ceremony.

"I think he's one of the better hitters in the league at hitting the ball over the plate and driving the ball the other way," Lilly said. "For the most part, I've got to stay hard in on his hands. I've missed out over the plate before and he's hit it pretty hard, so I think if I'm going to miss on him that's where I want to do it."

Posey didn't do any finger pointing but manager Bruce Bochy wasn't happy.

"You get your cleanup hitter hit twice, I don't think any club would like it, and we didn't," the skipper said.

After Posey went to first in the third inning, he stole his first career base. He had one steal during last year's playoffs but it doesn't count toward his official statistics.

Lilly was booed when he stepped into the batter's box to hit in the fourth. He allowed four runs on seven hits in six innings, struck out two and didn't walk a batter.

Andre Ethier singled in the seventh for the Dodgers, giving him a 10-game hitting streak.

Casey Blake returned to Los Angeles' lineup after missing three games with a bruised thigh but played first base rather than his regular spot at third as manager Don Mattingly gave the struggling James Loney a night off.

Game notes
San Francisco CF Andres Torres, nursing a strained left Achilles tendon he hurt Saturday vs. St. Louis, hit in the cage and will push himself harder Friday. He could play Saturday. ... The Giants drew 42,060 to sell out for the sixth straight time this year and they have 16 consecutive sellouts dating back to the final regular-season series against San Diego that began Oct. 1. That includes seven postseason games. ... Dodgers RHP Vicente Padilla, who underwent surgery on his pitching elbow Feb. 24, played catch on flat ground and is slated to throw off a mound Thursday or Friday.

^ Al Inicio ^