Speed ignites seventh-inning rally

SAN FRANCISCO -- Eugenio Velez's so-called "game-changing speed" finally changed a game.

The Giants rallied for a 5-4 victory against the Diamondbacks on Monday night at AT&T Park, denying Randy Johnson a chance to inch further toward 300 victories.

Johnson was in line for win No. 285, with Arizona leading by a run in the seventh, when Velez led off the inning and used his speed to spark a two-run rally.

Pinch hitting, Velez led off the inning with an infield single. His slow roller up the middle was fielded by shortstop Stephen Drew, but he had no shot at Velez and didn't make a throw.

Randy Winn then hit a potential double-play grounder right to Drew, but Drew appeared to try to hurry to get Velez at second, and he let the ball get past him. Although the ball barely trickled into the outfield, Velez motored all the way to third.

Aaron Rowand drew a walk to load the bases.

Ray Durham then hit a grounder to first baseman Conor Jackson, who might have had a play at the plate but he opted to go to second, perhaps because of Velez's speed. Rowand was forced out but his slide into second base broke up any chance for a double play, and Velez scored.

Bengie Molina's sacrifice fly then drove in Winn with the go-ahead run. Afterward, the Giants agreed that Velez's speed was critical in the inning.

"He runs like a gazelle," Rowand said. "That puts pressure on the catcher, pressure on the pitcher. Him going from first to third there, running right in their face, was huge. That changed the inning right there."

Added Molina: "He's going to have a big impact, a young kid like that, who's hungry. He's playing hard. He's going to have a huge impact, depending on how much he plays."

Rowand was another key player. He had two doubles prior to his seventh-inning walk. It was a productive night, and he had a couple of packs of ice on his body to show for his effort afterward. After missing two games because of sore ribs, Rowand had to dive back into second on a line drive, break up a double play, and he crashed into the fence to make a catch.

"It was a rough one," he said, adding that he would be "all right" to play today.

Relievers Tyler Walker and Brian Wilson pitched the final two innings to secure the victory for reliever Keiichi Yabu.

Yabu became the first Japanese-born pitcher to win a game for the Giants since Masanori Murakami in 1965.

The Giants were unsure of what they'd face from Johnson, who was making his first start since last June. Since then he had undergone back surgery.

The 44-year-old left-hander was clearly rusty at the outset. He walked Winn on four pitches to start the bottom of the first inning, the first of four walks he issued in five innings. When his pitches were in the strike zone, though, the Giants had trouble squaring them up.

They scored three runs against him in the second, but they benefited from an error, a walk and Winn's bloop single, which scored two. All three runs were unearned.

Giants starter Jonathan Sanchez had an uneven game. He gave up a two-run homer to Jackson in the first and gave up two runs, one earned, on three hits in the third, but he pitched well in his other three innings.

You can reach Staff Writer Jeff Fletcher at 521-5489 or jeff.fletcher@pressdemocrat.com.