| SEASON | CAREER |
| W5 | 5 |
| L6 | 6 |
| G16 | 16 |
| IP75.2 | 75.0 |
| BB21 | 21 |
| SO64 | 64 |
| SEASON | CAREER |
| W10 | 155 |
| L8 | 132 |
| G26 | 394 |
| IP148.2 | 2400.0 |
| BB61 | 995 |
| SO85 | 1768 |
The San Francisco Giants boosted their already unwavering confidence by feasting upon two of the NL's worst teams during their recent road trip.
Building on that momentum at home against a pair of division rivals could help extend their NL West lead.
San Francisco seeks its sixth victory in seven games when it begins a six-game homestand against the slumping Arizona Diamondbacks on Monday.
The Giants completed a 5-1 road trip to Houston and Chicago by beating the Cubs 7-5 on Sunday, scoring twice in the ninth after a shaky outing by Matt Cain .
Former Cub Angel Pagan drove in two runs, including a tiebreaking RBI single in the final frame, to help San Francisco (76-58) improve to a season-best 18 games over .500 and maintain a 4 1/2-game lead on the second-place Los Angeles Dodgers .
The Giants host the Diamondbacks for three before the Dodgers visit the Bay Area next weekend.
"I've been on teams before where you're down runs and you don't feel like you're in it anymore," Cain said. "This team feels like no matter what the score is, they're gonna keep going out and find ways to score runs. It's a good feeling to have because you never feel like you're out of the game."That's seemingly how Arizona's recent opponents have felt, too.
The Diamondbacks (66-69) have dropped eight of 10 after giving up a walkoff two-run double in a 5-4 loss to the Dodgers on Sunday. Arizona, which fell 10 1/2 games behind San Francisco after being 5 1/2 out before its slump, has been outscored 23-5 from the sixth inning on over its last 10 contests.
"We've got to keep playing hard," said catcher Miguel Montero , who hit a two-run homer in the fourth. "...Now we've got to go up to San Francisco and go after those guys."Allowing late runs has been a trend for Patrick Corbin (5-6, 3.93 ERA), who will look for a more complete effort Monday.
Corbin allowed two hits through six innings before giving up three runs and four hits - including a pair of homers - in the seventh of Wednesday's 6-2 loss to Cincinnati. He ended up striking out eight through 6 2-3 innings.
The rookie left-hander had gone 3-1 with a 3.60 ERA over his previous five starts.
"We've seen a game or two where he had a low pitch count getting into the seventh, where that has happened," manager Kirk Gibson said. "It is something he has to learn how to deal with. He threw an exceptional game up until that point."Corbin had one of his best outings May 11 when he gave up a run and three hits in seven innings of a 5-1 win over the Giants, who will counter with inconsistent Barry Zito .
The Giants have won Zito's last five starts, though he allowed three runs and seven hits in a season-low 2 1-3 innings of Wednesday's 6-4 victory over Houston.
Zito (10-8, 4.42) was coming off one of his better outings, tossing eight innings to beat Atlanta 5-2 on Aug. 23.
"I didn't have it," Zito said. "My command was below average for sure. My timing was off and that ended up making my command off. I was very upset with myself."The left-hander felt much better after each of his starts versus the Diamondbacks this season, giving up three runs in six innings of a 7-3 win May 13 before allowing two runs in seven innings of a 4-2 victory May 28.
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AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPS
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Henry Blanco | 5 | .200 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .429 | .829 | .400 |
| Willie Bloomquist | 37 | .270 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | .308 | .794 | .486 |
| Geoff Blum | 6 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .125 | .125 | .000 |
| Aaron Hill | 8 | .250 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .500 | .250 |
| Daniel Hudson | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .000 |
| Ian Kennedy | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | .000 |
| John McDonald | 7 | .143 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .143 | .286 | .143 |
| Miguel Montero | 8 | .375 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | .444 | 1.194 | .750 |
| Lyle Overbay | 5 | .200 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .533 | .200 |
| Gerardo Parra | 2 | .500 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .750 | 1.250 | .500 |
| Ryan Roberts | 9 | .444 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .545 | 1.101 | .556 |
| Joe Saunders | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Justin Upton | 20 | .250 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | .375 | .925 | .550 |
| Chris Young | 29 | .241 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | .436 | .746 | .310 |
 Arizona Diamondbacks |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| August 30, 2012 | Chris Johnson | Day-to-Day | Flu |
| August 21, 2012 | Justin Upton | Day-to-Day | Left game - Tight hamstring |
| August 17, 2012 | Jason Kubel | Day-to-Day | Neck stiffness |
| August 14, 2012 | Takashi Saito | 15-Day DL | Strained left hamstring |
| August 14, 2012 | Takashi Saito | 15-Day DL | Strained left hamstring |
| August 09, 2012 | Willie Bloomquist | 15-Day DL | Lower back stiffness |
 San Francisco Giants |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| August 27, 2012 | Clay Hensley | 15-Day DL | Strained right groin |
| August 23, 2012 | Justin Christian | 15-Day DL | Sprained left wrist |
| August 22, 2012 | Buster Posey | Day-to-Day | Hamstring tightness |
| August 14, 2012 | Brad Penny | 15-Day DL | Right shoulder impingement |
| August 14, 2012 | Brad Penny | 15-Day DL | Right shoulder impingement |
| August 07, 2012 | Shane Loux | 15-Day DL | Recurring neck strain |
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Marco Scutaro had just rounded first base when the portly Pablo Sandoval caught him by surprise, tugged on his jersey and bear-hugged the second baseman while the rest of the San Francisco Giants streamed out of the dugout in celebration.
"He said, `Take it easy. I'll protect you,"' Scutaro said. "That's a lot of protection."
Throughout a wild, wacky game that featured 30 hits, 17 runs and 13 pitchers, protection proved to be a theme for a Giants team that refused to quit. They built a 4-0 lead, then trailed by three and blew a chance to win in the ninth.
Only fitting they showed the same fight at the finish.
Scutaro singled home the winning run in the 10th inning after Buster Posey 's tying double in the ninth, and the Giants rallied to beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 9-8 on Monday.
"That's probably one of the best wins," Posey said, "if not the best win of the year."
Brandon Crawford beat out a single to short leading off the final inning and moved to second when Brett Pill dropped his first career sacrifice bunt. Angel Pagan grounded out to first to advance Crawford to third.
Scutaro sent the final fastball from Bryan Shaw (1-5) past diving third baseman Chris Johnson for San Francisco's seventh walk-off win this season. Scutaro, the former super-sub in Oakland who came over in a trade with Colorado after the All-Star break, also doubled and scored the tying run in the ninth to help hand J.J. Putz his second straight blown save.
Putz had converted 19 consecutive saves until blowing a chance in a loss to the Dodgers on Sunday.
"Tremendous comeback," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "It's a little different in September, there's no getting around it."
Sergio Romo (4-2) struck out two in a perfect inning for the Giants to earn the win.
Scutaro hit a double to left leading off the ninth against Putz and moved to third on Sandoval's groundout. Posey doubled down the left-field line to score Scutaro.
Putz intentionally walked Hunter Pence and struck out Xavier Nady swinging. With a full count and an announced sellout crowd of 42,045 roaring to its feet, he struck out Hector Sanchez and quieted AT&T Park.
At least for a little, anyway.
The Giants, coming off a 5-1 road trip against Chicago and Houston, returned home with a 4 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West. The loss gave Arizona, now 11 1/2 back of San Francisco, another blow to its fading playoff hopes.
"I got beat. I didn't make a pitch when I needed to, bottom line," Putz said. "It was a (expletive) pitch to Scutaro to start the inning. That's not the way you want to start."
The Giants handed starter Barry Zito plenty of support in the first inning and looked poised to pull away early.
No chance.
On a relatively warm, windless day by San Francisco standards, the ball carried well all afternoon. Posey's fly drifted over the head of right fielder Justin Upton and off the scoreboard for a double that scored Scutaro. Pence followed with a two-run triple and Sanchez's infield single gave the Giants a 4-0 lead.
Zito struck out five of the first seven he faced and had Arizona's hitters chasing pitches all over the zone and in the dirt - until he didn't.
In the fifth, Chris Johnson sent an 80 mph cutter over the wall in left for his 14th home run, a two-run shot that sliced San Francisco's lead to 4-2. Zito was replaced by Guillermo Moto after allowing consecutive singles to Upton and Jason Kubel to open the sixth.
Arizona sent ten batters to the plate in the inning while getting an RBI from five different players - Johnson, Paul Goldschmidt , Willie Bloomquist , Chris Young and Aaron Hill - to take a 7-4 lead. Goldschmidt's double was the only extra-base hit.
Zito gave up four runs and seven hits and struggled to go deep for the second straight start. Arizona starter Patrick Corbin followed suit, allowing four runs and seven hits in five innings. Both struck out six and walked none.
Zito left with a 4-2 lead, a light ovation from fans and a mess Mota couldn't clean up. Mota, who came back last week following a 100-game suspension for his second positive drug test, gave up two hits, a walk and was charged with three runs before the boo-birds pelted the pitcher.
Sandoval singled home Pagan in the seventh as San Francisco began its own rally.
After Upton added an RBI single for Arizona in the eighth, Crawford hit an RBI double and pinch-hitter Brandon Belt followed with a two-out single to bring the Giants within a run. David Hernandez , who started the inning, got Pagan out on hard line drive to right field for the final out of the eighth.
"That's in the bonus column right there," Zito said. "It's those ones that really make the difference when the year is over."
NOTES Aubrey Huff 's pinch-hit single for the Giants in the seventh was his first hit since June 10 against Texas. ... The game marked the 150th consecutive sellout for San Francisco. ... Giants LHP Madison Bumgarner (14-9, 3.07 ERA) starts against Arizona RHP Trevor Cahill (9-11, 4.02 ERA) on Tuesday.
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Arizona Diamondbacks