Aubrey Huff delivers in SF Giants' 6-0 win

Who can we get?" was a common question among Giants fans before Carlos Beltran was acquired, and it kept being asked after the trade deadline as the team piled up losses - as if some magical move could be made to breathe air into an unresponsive offense.

One of the common answers was "the 2010 Aubrey Huff," and that's exactly who emerged Tuesday night in a 6-0 victory over the Pirates - the Giants' third win in 12 games, which maintained their National League West lead over Arizona by a half game.

Huff, a .233 hitter with runners in scoring position, smoked an RBI double to left-center to score Jeff Keppinger from second base and also homered, but he wasn't the only man who filled the Giants' "haven't done it in a while" file.

Madison Bumgarner enjoyed his first scoreless outing since Game 4 of the World Series, striking out 10 batters in seven innings, and Chris Stewart hit his first home run since ... well, his first home run, period. At least in the big leagues, covering 140 at-bats.

Huff contributed so much more in the championship season than he has the year after. The team's 2010 leader in homers, RBIs and clubhouse pranks, Huff entered Tuesday's game hitting .244 with 10 homers and 49 RBIs, prompting some fans to wish for a Brandon Belt sighting. At the same time last year, Huff was at .304, 20 and 67.

He had hit safely in seven of eight games, but just one of the hits went for extra bases.

"The singles, last year I was lifting for doubles and homers," he said. "My swing has been so bad for so long. At least they're hits. Now I'm starting to get my timing a little better. Hopefully, we'll run off these next two months and nobody will remember the first four."

According to manager Bruce Bochy, Huff pressed early in the season. "Buster (Posey) and Freddy Sanchez went down, and he put too much on himself to carry this club," Bochy said. "You can't do that. I don't care how good you are. Hopefully, this'll get him to keep the line moving."
With Beltran shelved with a wrist injury a second straight night, Huff batted cleanup and had three hits, including an eighth-inning single that set up a three-run rally. A rare dose of situational hitting took place, with Huff moving Pablo Sandoval to third and Sandoval scoring on Nate Schierholtz's fielder's choice grounder to the right side.

Yes, the Stewart and Huff homers were solo shots (off James McDonald), but that was OK on this night. The Giants' last 18 homers have come with nobody on base - one shy of the major-league record set by the 1914 Phillies.

"I woke up this morning and did an extra curl," said Stewart, proudly displaying the home run ball at his locker, having given a signed bat to the fan who retrieved it. "I know I got all of it. If it didn't get out, I was going to start bunting every at-bat."

Stewart's homer made the score 2-0, and Huff's made it 3-0, giving Bumgarner and reliever Sergio Romo - whose streak of batters retired ended at 31 on Andrew McCutchen's eighth-inning double - some breathing room.

The game ended when Santiago Casilla struck out McCutchen with the bases loaded, clinching the Giants' most one-sided shutout victory since they beat the Dodgers 10-0 in L.A. for their first win of the season.


(sfgate.com)