http://0rz.tw/PAnDQ Sandoval's homer gives Giants win in extras By Chris Haft / MLB.com | 8/21/2011 8:45 PM ET HOUSTON -- As a player, coach and manager, Bruce Bochy has witnessed too many ballgames to count, though 5,000 might be a good figure to establish as the over/under. So when the Giants skipper said Sunday, "That's one of the hardest-fought wins I think I've ever been involved in," it was safe to conclude that the Giants' 6-4, 11-inning decision over the Houston Astros was no ordinary victory. Nothing was ordinary about the game-winning hit. The mostly powerless Giants received a tiebreaking two-run homer from Pablo Sandoval with two outs in the 11th to avoid being swept by the Major Leagues' worst team. Nothing was ordinary about San Francisco's relief effort. Substitute starter Dan Runzler yielded all of Houston's runs in 1 2/3 innings, leaving the bullpen, which operated without injured right-handers Sergio Romo and Brian Wilson, to spin 9 1/3 scoreless innings. "The 'W' goes to the bullpen," said left-hander Jeremy Affeldt (2-2), who escaped a bases-loaded, one-out jam in the ninth before adding a scoreless 10th. Nothing was ordinary about rookie Brandon Belt, who displayed the form that made him the Giants' top hitting prospect entering this season. Belt snapped an 0-for-13 skid with a three-run, second-inning homer and finished with a career-high four hits, which thrilled the Texan's legion of friends and relatives in attendance at Minute Maid Park. "I heard a few screams. I assumed that was probably them," Belt said of the noise that reached him during his home run trot. Screams of agony might have been heard from the Giants' clubhouse had they lost. This triumph preserved their sanity, not to mention their contender's status in the National League West. San Francisco finished 4-6 on its three-city trip, yet fell just a half-game in the standings farther behind first-place Arizona, which has lost five games in a row. The Giants trail Arizona by 1 1/2 games. The Giants' record on this journey actually might look admirable, given the injuries or the aftereffects of earlier ailments that befell them almost daily. Sandoval, Orlando Cabrera, Jeff Keppinger, Aaron Rowand, Jonathan Sanchez and Nate Schierholtz all missed playing time. Carlos Beltran, Sergio Romo, Andres Torres, Eli Whiteside and Brian Wilson went on the disabled list. "I guess the best way I can put it is, we survived," Bochy said. The Giants needed all the perseverance they could muster in the series finale against Houston. Sandoval, for instance, was playing with an inflamed left shoulder that forced the switch-hitter to bat left-handed against a left-handed pitcher for the second consecutive day. Sandoval did not want to risk aggravating the ailing shoulder, since his left arm controls his swing as a right-handed batter. The third baseman also remained bothered by a sore right foot, which bore the brunt of a foul ball he hit last Monday in Atlanta. Sunday, Sandoval struck out twice, grounded into a double play and fouled out while going hitless in his first four at-bats. But Sandoval looked healthy when he drilled Mark Melancon's 0-1 fastball over the left-center-field barrier. "I started looking for one pitch. I got it. A fastball," said Sandoval, who has a team-high 15 homers. Another resurgent performer was Belt, who Saturday went 0-for-4 with two strikeouts. He also made an embarrassingly awkward and unnecessary throw after catching an inning-ending fly ball that revealed he lost track of the number of outs. "I was hating life yesterday," said Belt, whose mood began improving when he connected off former Giants prospect Henry Sosa for his fifth homer of the season. The Giants needed those big hits, because they couldn't get any hits to speak of at other crucial junctures. They came up empty despite loading the bases in the eighth and ninth innings. The eighth-inning disappointment was particularly stunning, since it featured left fielder J.D. Martinez's powerful throw home that retired Schierholtz after Chris Stewart hit what appeared destined to be a sacrifice fly. The bullpen remained resolute through these lapses, no more so than in the ninth. Affeldt recorded the outs he needed after compromising himself by hitting a batter and walking a pair. Then Martinez, whose two-run single in the second inning hiked his RBI total for the series to six, stared at a called third strike. "I just kind of went up there and froze," he said. "I didn't think he was going to come with that pitch. He put it right there on the platter and I just took it." Cleanup batter Carlos Lee then flied out to left field. "I just tried to keep the ball off the barrel [of the bat] and it worked," Affeldt said. "It's definitely not the kind of inning I wanted to have out there." Nor was it the sort of trip the Giants desired. Somehow, it wasn't a complete disaster. Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs. --

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