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Saturday, Sep. 23 4:05pm ET
Giants, D-Backs split doubleheader | |||||
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- With a division title already clinched but plenty of goals still to reach, Dusty Baker doesn't want the San Francisco Giants to lose their edge. Miguel Del Toro won his first major league start and drove in two runs with his first hit in the majors as the San Francisco Giants beat Arizona 9-5 Saturday in the second game of a day-night doubleheader. The Diamondbacks won the opener 7-5. Luis Gonzalez hit a three-run homer in each game for Arizona and had eight RBIs on the day. San Francisco, which plays its final home game of the regular season on Sunday, improved baseball's best home record to 55-25. The Giants are 1½ games in front of Atlanta (91-63) in the competition for home-field advantage in the NL playoffs. "We're known for this home-field advantage," Baker said. "We'd love to come in here to start the playoffs. ... It was an extremely long day, but the guys responded very well in the second game of the series." With the loss, Arizona's negligible playoff chances got even smaller. The Mets, who won at Philadelphia, went 6½ games up on the Diamondbacks in the wild card standings. New York's magic number for clinching a playoff berth dropped to two. "Unfortunately for us, it's too late," Gonzalez said. Barry Bonds, Jeff Kent, J.T. Snow and Rich Aurilia -- normally manager Baker's 3-6 hitters -- rested in the early game, appearing only as pinch-hitters. They all played in the second game, and it was Aurilia's walk that started San Francisco's five-fun fourth inning. With the bases loaded, Del Toro (2-0) lunged at an outside pitch by Armando Reynoso (10-12) and poked it down the first-base line, scoring Aurilia and Armando Rios. After Benard tripled to right, he scored on Bill Mueller's sacrifice fly. Del Toro, a starter for San Francisco's Triple-A Fresno club for most of the year, has a reliever's mentality in the big leagues. He needed just 10 pitches to get warmed up for his start. "I said, 'Well, you're at least going to throw 30 so we don't look bad,' " pitching coach Dave Righetti said. Arizona got four runs against Del Toro in the fifth, including Gonzalez's homer to deep left-center. His homer in the first game landed in McCovey Cove, making him just the second player other than Barry Bonds to hit the ball into the water at Pacific Bell Park. Reynoso, who failed to record an out while allowing seven runs in his first start against San Francisco this season, gave up five runs and six hits while losing his fifth straight decision. He's winless in seven appearances since Aug. 16. San Francisco added four runs in the fifth against Mike Morgan, capped by Estalella's bases-clearing double to center. With the division title assured, a few empty seats could be seen at Pac Bell for the first time in weeks. Still, the games were the Giants' 79th and 80th sellouts, and the free viewing area at the base of the right-field fence was filled with fans. Game notesBonds has hit six homers into McCovey Cove. The Dodgers' Todd Hundley and Gonzalez are the only other players to reach it. ... San Francisco finishes its season with seven road games at Los Angeles and Arizona. ... Tony Womack stole his 45th base for Arizona in the second game. ... The doubleheader was played to make up for a rainout on April 16. ... Arizona C Rod Barajas, a late-season callup from Triple-A Tucson, got his first start of the season and singled in the sixth. ... Damon Minor hit a two-run homer for the Giants in the first game. Ramon Martinez added a two-run single in the ninth off Matt Mantei, who still got his 16th save. | ALSO SEE Baseball Scoreboard Arizona Clubhouse San Francisco Clubhouse RECAPS NY Yankees 13 Detroit 8
San Francisco 9
Milwaukee 5
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