Torres leads Giants to 6-1 victory over Padres

July 15, 2011BOX SCOREGIANTS VIDEOMLB PAGEMLB SCOREBOARD
SAN DIEGO(AP)For one night, anyway, San Francisco leadoff batter Andres Torres was better than the entire San Diego Padres lineup.Torres had three hits, two RBIs and scored three runs for the defending World Series champions, who won 6-1 Friday night to extend the Padres' losing streak to a season-high seven games.Tim Lincecum and three relievers combined on a four-hitter and Cody Ross homered for the NL West-leading Giants. Pablo Sandoval went 0 for 2, ending his career-best 22-game hitting streak, although he walked twice and hit a sacrifice fly."That was a great game he had," manager Bruce Bochy said about Torres. "He did it all. That's the key to winning ballgames, is getting your leadoff guy going. I thought Andres had a great game plan up there. That's a game he should feel good about and hopefully get his confidence going."
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Torres is scheduled to sit out against Padres lefty Cory Luebke on Saturday night."As good a game as he had, he still gets the day off tomorrow," Bochy said. "He's such a hard worker, sometimes we need to back him off a bit."Bochy said Torres can be hard on himself if he doesn't play well. Torres, who came in hitting .224, said he showed up early to work on his hitting stroke."I feel great. I've been working hard," he said. "You want to help the team win somehow. Today I got it going."He also made a nice catch in center field, hauling in Kyle Phillips' fly on the warning track and then slamming into the padded fence.San Diego had only four singles, three of them off Lincecum (8-7) during his six innings. The right-hander allowed one run while striking out seven and walking three to win consecutive starts for just the second time this year.It helped that the Giants scored some runs for the two-time Cy Young Award winner, considering that he had received only six runs of support in his previous seven starts."He didn't quite pitch as efficient as he'd like, but overall it's a good job," Bochy said. "His command wasn't quite as sharp, but he found a way to give us six solid innings."Jeremy Affeldt gave up one hit in 1 2-3 innings, Sergio Romo retired the only batter he faced and Guillermo Mota pitched a perfect ninth.The Giants have taken the first two of a four-game series and have beaten the Padres four times in six meetings since July 4.The Padres, struggling in the first season of the post-Adrian Gonzalez era, have dropped 14 games behind the Giants and 14 games under .500. San Diego has scored just 10 runs during the six-game losing streak, including consecutive 1-0 losses at Los Angeles last weekend.The Padres scored their run off Lincecum without getting a hit. Alberto Gonzalez walked leading off the fourth, advanced on two wild pitches and scored on Orlando Hudson's grounder to second for the second out."He wasn't as crisp as we've seen him in the past," Padres manager Bud Black said. "Nevertheless, it's good stuff, competitive stuff. We had some good at-bats against him, but we couldn't string together any hits."Lincecum said his slider got better as the game went on."That last inning was when it was the best," he said. "'I kind of mess around with grips here and there to see if anything's doing something different, if I can keep it away to righties or make it just go down. That last inning I found a comfortable grip and I just stuck to it consistently."
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Ross homered to left off Dustin Moseley leading off the second, his seventh. Torres came up big all game. He singled leading off the game and eventually scored on Sandoval's sacrifice fly. Torres hit an RBI single in the fifth and eventually scored from third as Mike Fontenot was thrown out trying to steal second. He had an RBI double in the seventh and scored on Ernesto Frieri's wild pitch.Moseley (2-9) allowed four runs and seven hits in six innings, struck out three and walked two."Subpar," he said. "Early on, I kind of put us in a hole. Got us in a bind in the fifth with the leadoff double. When I did make a mistake, they took advantage of it."Notes: San Diego's Luis Martinez and San Francisco's Hector Sanchez both made their big league debuts as pinch-hitters. Martinez lined out to Affeldt on the first pitch he saw in the seventh. Sanchez walked in the ninth. ... Gonzalez replaced 3B Chase Headley after the top of the first inning. The Padres said Headley has a strained right calf. Headley left Thursday night's game with a bruised left ankle. ... The Hall of Fame asked for and will receive the 1983 throwback jersey Black wore Thursday night as the team honored the late Dick Williams. The jerseys the Padres wore Thursday night included a patch with Williams' initials. Williams, who died July 7 at age 82, managed the Padres from 1982-85. The Padres reached their first World Series in 1984, losing in five games to Detroit. ... Williams was inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2008 after being elected by the Veterans Committee. ... Jim Riggleman was hired by the Giants as a special assignment scout less than a month after he abruptly resigned as Washington Nationals manager when they wouldn't pick up his contract option for next season.