With just a glimmer of hope still shining on their playoff chances the San Francisco Giants took an important step on Thursday, actually finishing off a series with a sweep. It wasn’t easy though as Mat Latos of the San Diego Padres and Tim Lincecum dueled it out all afternoon long, but it eventually was Carlos Beltran’s double-bomb day as well as a bit more magic from Mark DeRosa that gave the G-Men the 3-1 victory.
Lincecum (W 13-12) and Latos (L 7-14) each threw seven strong innings for their respective clubs, though Timmy’s would up just a tad bit stronger. He allowed only the one run on four hits, along with two walks and six strikeouts while Latos gave up three runs on seven hits with one walk and eight strikeouts.
Latos unfortunately gave up a costly mistake to Carlos Beltran not once but twice, allowing two home runs to the switch hitting slugger, with Carlos’ second shot finding it’s way into McCovey Cove for the 59th time is AT&T Park history. Beltran now has 20 homers on the year, and an even 300 on his career thus far.
Mark DeRosa was Tuesday night’s hero after the walkoff single, but came back Wednesday with another hard liner that found the outfield grass, plating Andres Torres to give the team that little bit of cushion against the pesky Padres. The two Brandon’s, Belt and Crawford, each finished 1-3 on the day, with Belt notching a double.
Santiago Casilla get his third save of the year with his perfect ninth inning or work, while Sergio Romo got his 21st hold on the year with his work in the eighth.
Full box score can be found here.