Aubrey Huff hits 3 homers in rout

Finally, after a 12-7 victory ended a stretch of 35 road games in the first 56 contests, the Giants flew back to the Bay Area on Thursday to start their first long stretch of home games. Twenty-four players tripped over one another to get to the airport, while Aubrey Huff chained himself to the Cardinals' mascot, Fredbird.

"We're going to make sure Aubrey gets on the plane," manager Bruce Bochy joked. And why would Huff want to leave the hot, humid heaven where his 2011 season was reborn?

When Huff lined a Brian Tallet slider over the right-field fence in the ninth inning, he had his first career three-homer game and six RBIs, which matched his career best. Huff homered four times in the Giants' first 54 games before hitting four in his final six at-bats of a series the Giants won three games to one.

Aubrey was not the only happy Huff.

"My wife, Baubi, it's her birthday," the first baseman said. "She wanted me to hit her a home run. I hit her three. That's brownie points."

The last Giant with three in a game was in the dugout as a coach for this one. J.T. Snow did it in Philadelphia in 2004 and freely admitted two of them were a product of matchbox-sized Citizens Bank Park.

As Huff addressed reporters, Snow walked over and said, "Way to take over the three-homer torch, dude."

When Huff asked if Snow really had a three-homer game, Snow said, "Hard to believe, huh?"

What might be harder to believe is that the Giants are back in first place in the mushy National League West. They stand 31-25 despite being tied with the White Sox for the most road games in the majors at 35.

Teams strive to be .500 away from home. The Giants are 18-17 after a winning trip (4-3) that seemed unlikely when they dropped two of three in Milwaukee.

"This was a big series for us," said Freddy Sanchez, who did something rarer than Huff. Sanchez drove in four runs, including a three-run homer, and was not the Giants' hitting star.

"The way we were able to regroup after Milwaukee and come here and take three of four against a great team like the Cards - that's not easy to do. A lot of guys stepped up. That's what we're going to need from here on out."

Though the season is barely one-third done, the Giants have played 43 percent of their road games. Their immediate reward is 19 of their next 22 games in the Bay Area, with the prospect of a hot first baseman.

Huff said Tuesday he would treat June 1 as his Opening Day and pledged to relax at the plate. As if on cue, he went 5-for-9 with the four homers and an important walk in the first two games of the month.

His three homers Thursday helped the Giants win a game they trailed 3-0 and came against three pitchers. Two of them, right-handers Lance Lynn and Maikel Cleto, were making their major-league debuts. The third came off Tallet, a lefty.

"I saw today in the paper where I had the third-most opportunities to drive in runs in the NL and I was hitting .180-something with runners in scoring position," Huff said. "I hadn't done anything the first two months. It's hard to have fun when you're so crappy. I just let it go."



(sfgate.com)