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2B – Daily News – Friday, August 13, 2010 Torres’ pinch-hit single in 9th lifts Giants Chicago 7 Giants 8 SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Pinch-hitter Andres Torres hit a bases-loaded single in the bottom of the ninth inning to send the San Francisco Giants into a weekend showdown against San Diego on a high note following an 8-7 victory over the Chicago Cubs on Thursday. Pat Burrell hit a grand slam and solo home run and Pablo Sandoval also homered to snap a drought of 178 at-bats without a longball as the Giants won despite blowing a four- run lead. Aaron Rowand led off the ninth with an infield single against Andrew Cashner (1-5) and went to second on a sac- rifice by Freddy Sanchez. After Aubrey Huff was intention- ally walked, Cashner walked Buster Posey unintentionally to load the bases. Torres, held out of the starting lineup before of tightness in his legs, then hit a drive to center that landed on the warn- ing track and bounced over the fence for the winning hit. Brian Wilson (3-1) pitched a hitless ninth for the win. Now the Giants can turn their attention to the NL West- leading Padres, who have won seven of eight head-to-head meetings between the teams this season. But the Giants are a very different team than the one that last played the Padres in May. The biggest difference is the presence in the lineup of rookie Buster Posey, who is hitting .335 since being called up from the minors May 29, and Burrell, who has 10 homers in 154 at-bats since joining the Giants on June 4. San Francisco can take over first place in the NL West by sweeping the three-game series at home beginning Friday. Burrell gave the Giants a 7-3 lead with a grand slam in the fifth off Randy Wells. But the Cubs worked their way back into the game after starter Matt Cain left. Kosuke Fukodome hit an RBI double in the seventh off Chris Ray before Chicago scored three times in the eighth to tie it. Blake DeWitt started the rally when he drew a leadoff walk from Javier Lopez. Guillermo Mota allowed a single to Geoff Baker and an RBI double by Koyie Hill to make it 7- 5. Sergio Romo entered with runners on second and third and no outs and got pinch-hitter Alfonso Soriano on an infield popup and Tyler Colvin on an RBI groundout. Star- lin Castro then tied the game with an RBI single past a div- ing Sandoval at third base for his fourth hit of the game. Cain matched a season-high with nine strikeouts in six innings, but was not as dominating as usual against the Cubs. Cain had allowed just one run in his past 30 innings against Chicago, throwing 23 straight scoreless innings since new teammate Mike Fontenot hit an RBI single against him Aug. 23, 2007. MCT photo Cain couldn’t make it out of the first inning unscathed this game, giving up a two-run double to Xavier Nady that put the Giants in an early hole. Wells’ RBI double in the fourth made it 3-1 before the Giants tied the game on the consecutive homers by Burrell Andres Torres is mobbed by teammates,Thursday, following his game-winning hit. and Sandoval. NOTES: Sandoval’s homer was first since June 15 against Baltimore and his third career splash hit. ... Burrell has 19 career multihomer games. MCT photo San Francisco Giants third baseman Pablo Sandoval dives for a ball,Thursday, during the Giants 8-7 win against the Chicago Cubs. PGA (Continued from page 1B) and Nick Watney, courtesy of eagles — Kuchar on the 13th early in his round by holing from the fairway, Watney on the par-5 11th, his last hole of the day. Phil Mickelson, closer than ever to going to No. 1 in the world, ended a wild day at 1 under. He knocked it close for a couple of birdies, and spent the rest of the time in the bunkers and rough as he scrambled to save par. He finished on a strong note with back-to-back birdies, the last one a wedge that stopped 2 feet away on the 11th. In a summer of majors at Pebble Beach and St. Andrews, it only figures that a fog delay of just over three hours would be in Wiscon- sin. ‘‘I had never gotten up at 5:30 for a 12 o’clock tee time,’’ said Charles Howell, who shot a 69. The group at 69 also included Ryan Moore, the only player among the early starters to reach 5 under until dropping two shots over his last three holes into the wind. Jason Day of Australia bogeyed his last hole for a 69. With so much rain on Wednesday and in the week before the PGA, the course that looks like a links played more like a PGA Tour course with soft conditions. It was suited perfectly for Watson, one of the biggest hitters in golf. Of all his birdies, none showed off his power quite like 587-yard fifth hole, the first one on the back nine with the wind at this back. Ignoring the bunkers and water to the right, Watson hammered his drive so far — 445 yards by his calculations — that he had only a lob wedge for his second shot and an easy two-putt birdie. ‘‘It makes it a little easier, I guess, when you do that,’’ Watson said of his long game. Everything feels easier these days for Watson, the southpaw from the Florida Panhandle who has been through some tough times at home. His father is battling cancer, and he had a major scare over the Christmas hol- idays when told that his wife — who once played profes- sional basketball — had a tumor. It turned out to be an enlarged pituitary gland, but Watson still broke down talk- ing about it. His goal now is to enjoy himself, from the video games at night to the golf he plays during the day, and it led to his first PGA Tour vic- tory two months ago at the Travelers Championship. Is a major too far behind? Watson didn’t sound like the pressure would ever get to him. ‘‘Any golf tournament I have a chance to win, that’s a major,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t change the way I do any- thing. I still hit driver as much as I can, and hopefully chip and get up-and-down and make putts.’’ He had nine one-putt greens, which works at any tournament. Molinari went about his work differently, relying on accuracy. He missed only MCT photo four fairways and two greens, dropped only one shot along the way and worked his way into a share of the early lead with a birdie on the par-3 seventh, among the scariest of the par 3s that hug the shoreline. Coming off two majors John Daly tries to blast out of a sand trap,Thursday, at the 11th hole of the PGA Championship. His worst swing came at won by players who had never done it before, Moli- nari has reason to believe he could be next. ‘‘Tiger is going to get back to his standards, and Phil is going to win more majors,’’ he said. ‘‘and so you just need to play really well and try to grab the occa- sion when you have it.’’ Woods took a step in that direction. For the first time all week, he hit a shot without caddie Steve Williams holding the end of a club over his right ear as a reminder to keep his head still. Woods found the first fairway, hit wedge to 12 feet and started with a birdie. Then came another birdie on the par-5 11th, when he two- putted from some 80 feet off the green. It was the first time in more than a year that Woods had started a tournament with consecutive birdies. ‘‘After a quick start, all of sudden I felt I could shoot something in the 60s,’’ Woods said. ‘‘Didn’t quite happen. I lost a few shots out there.’’ One bogey came from a tee shot that missed the fair- way by 3 yards and was buried in deep rough. Anoth- er came on the par-5 second, when his drive landed close to the lip of a bunker, his next shot sailed with the wind into the gallery and his third stunned him. ‘‘What the hell?’’ he said to his caddie. ‘‘Did you see that ball?’’ It started right and looked like a knuckle ball, settling into a bunker that left him a shot starting at Lake Michi- gan. the par-5 fifth, the one where Watson got home in two with a wedge. Unsure where to go with the wind at his back, Woods let the driver come out of his hand after impact, and the ball sailed left over the fairway, the bunkers, a ridge and into a marsh. Woods was stunned when he got to his caddie and saw the marsh. He yelled a muf- fled expletive with his face buried in a towel while wip- ing sweat from his brow. All that, and he still made par. After the penalty shot, he laid up and wound up holing a 7- foot putt. He will have to wait until Friday to figure out where that leaves him. The late starters will fin- ish the first round Friday morning and immediately start the second round. For Woods, Watson, Molinari and the rest of the players in their side of the draw, they will face a late start and like- ly won’t finish Friday. If nothing else, that means Woods will make it to the weekend. PGA PGA Championship The first round was suspended due to darkness with 75 players still on the course. At Whistling Straits, Straits Course Sheboygan, Wis. Purse: $7.5 million Yardage: 7,514;Par: 72 (36-36) Leaderboard SCORE THRU 1.Bubba Watson 1.Francesco Molinari 1. Matt Kuchar 1. Ernie Els 1. Nick Watney 6. Jason Day 6.Ryan Moore 6. Charles Howell III -4 F -4 F -4 14 -4 14 -4 11 -3 F -3 F -3 F 6. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano -3 16 6. Darren Clarke 6.Simon Khan 12. Jim Furyk 12.Kyung-Tae Kim 12. Martin Laird 12. John Merrick 12. Michael Sim 12.Thongchai Jaidee 12. Gregory Bourdy 12.Tim Thelen 12. Shaun Micheel 12.Peter Hanson 12. Angel Cabreara 12.Shane Lowry -3 13 -3 7 -2 F -2 F -2 F -2 F -2 F -2 F -2 F -2 16 -2 10 -2 10 -2 10 -2 9