Burrell's sac fly pulls Giants to a game from 1st

[August 07, 2010]  ATLANTA, Ga. (AP) -- All Pat Burrell wanted to do was get the ball in the air. He succeeded.

A fitting finish for the Giants, who didn't have a hit in their tying or winning rallies Friday night.

Burrell had a sacrifice fly with the bases loaded in the 11th inning Friday night, lifting San Francisco to a 3-2 victory over the Atlanta Braves.

The Giants moved within a game of NL West leader San Diego, which lost 2-1 to Arizona. The Braves' lead over Philadelphia fell to one in the NL East. The Phillies beat the New York Mets 7-5.

The Giants scored the tying run in the ninth without a hit and the go-ahead run in the 11th when Atlanta reliever Peter Moylan (3-2) walked the bases loaded ahead of Burrell's fly ball.

"With a sinker ball, sidearmer like that (Moylan), I was just trying to get something elevated, just get something in the outfield," Burrell said. "I know with my speed, or lack thereof, anything on the ground might be a double play."

Aubrey Huff opened the 11th with a walk and moved to second when Buster Posey walked. Juan Uribe hit into a forceout, with Huff reaching third. After two balls to Pablo Sandoval, he was intentionally walked. That loaded the bases for Burrell, whose fly to left easily scored Huff.

"It wasn't pretty. We'll take it. We didn't do much offensively and feel fortunate," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy said. "We didn't do much offensively."

The Giants got only four hits, but it turned out they didn't need any more.

Javier Lopez (3-2) picked up the win with a scoreless 10th and Brian Wilson got his 32nd save in 35 attempts with a hitless 11th.

"It got a little crazy in the 11th. We took advantage and got that sacrifice fly," Wilson said. "It was time (for me) to come in. No messing around. It was time to get the game over."

The Giants tied it at 2 in the ninth without hit as the Braves made two errors.

Huff was hit by a pitch leading off the inning against Atlanta closer Billy Wagner. Posey then reached on a throwing error by shortstop Alex Gonzalez before Uribe flied to right, Huff advancing to third.

Sandoval then reached when third baseman Chipper Jones fumbled his grounder, allowing Huff to score the tying run. Posey took third and Sandoval second. Burrell was walked intentionally to load the bases but Travis Ishikawa ended the threat by hitting into a double play.

"You got to play nine innings. We didn't," Atlanta's Chipper Jones said. "We hit a guy and made two errors in the ninth. Walk three in the 11th is a recipe for disaster."

Tommy Hanson pitched seven strong innings and Alex Gonzalez and Jones hit solo home runs for Atlanta's two runs.

Hanson allowed three hits and one run in seven innings. He walked two and struck out three.

Jones hit his 10th home run in the sixth inning off Barry Zito to break a 1-1 tie. Gonzalez hit his third home run as a Brave and second in two games in the fifth. He hit a two-run shot Thursday night in Atlanta's 3-2 win over San Francisco.

Jones had three of Atlanta's six hits. Burrell had two of San Francisco's four hits. He went 2 for 2 with a pair of walks.

The Giants took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Andres Torres led off the game with a single, stole second and third and scored on a groundout by Huff.

Zito went seven innings and allowed four hits, two runs, walked two and struck out 10.

NOTES: Gonzalez hit 17 home runs with Toronto before being traded to the Braves on July 14. ... Zito had 10 strikeouts for the third time this season and 15th in his career. ... In addition to the rain delay, the game was pushed back 15 minutes to a 7:50 p.m. start due to a ceremony to retire Tom Glavine's No. 47 and didn't start until 9:20 p.m. ... The Braves said LHP Mike Minor will be recalled from Triple-A Gwinnett to start at Houston on Monday. Atlanta's No. 1 pick out of Vanderbilt in the 2009 draft was 4-1 with a 1.89 ERA at Gwinnett.

[Associated Press; By TOM SALADINO]

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