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  Saturday, Aug. 5 4:05pm ET
Giles leads hit parade with four
 
  RECAP | BOX SCORE | GAME LOG

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Going home was no problem for Dan Serafini.

The San Francisco native and Bay area resident was recalled from the minors by Pittsburgh late the previous night and thrown into the starting rotation Saturday against San Francisco, the team he had rooted for as a kid.

He gave up two runs, eight hits and just one walk in 6 2/3 innings to beat the Giants 7-2.

"I was excited, and so were my wife and parents," said Serafini, who left only four tickets -- for his parents, wife and 3-year-old daughter.

"My main motivation was that I was back in the big leagues, and I want to stay here," he said. "I got started slowly with the Padre organization (at Triple-A Las Vegas) this season and then got traded. I want to prove that I'm worthy of staying here."

Serafini (1-0) has not pitched in the major leagues since a relief appearance for the Cubs against the Giants last Aug. 24.

"We have a doubleheader next Tuesday, and we didn't want to pitch one of our guys on short rest," Pirates manager Gene Lamont said, "so we brought Dan up to fill in now. He did a great job today, but we may use him in relief or as both a reliever and spot starter."

Serafini, who started four times in 42 appearances for the Cubs last season, said it doesn't matter -- "whatever gives me a job."

"Serafini pitched well. He changed speeds well and really popped his cut fastball inside," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "The Pirates played well today, and we didn't. We had opportunities to get back into the game but didn't. It was a bad day at the yard."

Pittsburgh had 13 hits to back Serafini and relievers Josias Manzanillo and Mike Williams. Brian Giles had four hits, while Jason Kendall, Kevin Young and Aramis Ramirez had two hits each.

Pittsburgh, which stranded 12 runners, went ahead in the fourth on John Vander Wal's RBI grounder and Alex Ramirez's run-scoring double, then made it 5-0 in the fifth on Vander Wal's two-run single and Ramirez's RBI-single. That finished San Francisco starter Mark Gardner (7-5), who gave up five runs and nine hits in 4 1/3 innings.

Calvin Murray hit a sacrifice fly in the bottom half, but the Pirates took a 7-1 lead in the sixth on Young's RBI double and a wild pitch by Miguel Del Toro that scored Giles, who was 4-for-5 after going 0-for-8 in the first two games of the series.

Ellis Burks hit a solo homer for the Giants in the sixth.

Game notes
Pirates pitchers had walked 27 batters in the previous four games but walked only two Saturday. ... Fifty-one of the Pirates' first 109 games have been decided by two or fewer runs. They are 19-32 in those games. ... Gardner's exit in the fifth inning marked only the second time in the Giants' last 23 games that their starter did not go at least six innings. ... Giants OF Marvin Benard has gone 179 games without an error and is the only San Francisco regular without an error this season. ... The Giants are 14-9 since the All-Star break, their best second-half start since 1993 (16-7). ... San Francisco has won 14 of its last 17 home games.
 


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