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GAME LOG
SAN DIEGO (AP) -- Jeff Kent and the San Francisco Giants are
ready to go home and wrap up the NL West title.
|  | | Jeff Kent homered and tripled to lead the Giants to a 5-1 victory over the Padres on Sunday. |
Kent hit a solo homer and a triple to lead the Giants to a 5-1
victory Sunday over the San Diego Padres, reducing their magic
number to six.
"We're excited to be able to win it at home," Kent said.
"It's fun to be able to play in the month of September for the
division."
San Francisco returns to Pacific Bell Park with a 9 1/2-game lead
and 14 games to play. The Giants begin a seven-game homestand
Monday, including four games against second-place Arizona starting
on Thursday.
"You'd like to clinch at home," Giants manager Dusty Baker
said. "But you don't care where you clinch as long as you
clinch."
Mark Gardner (11-6) pitched a solid seven innings as he won his
fourth straight decision, helping the Giants win for the 15th time
in 18 games.
Gardner, who missed his previous scheduled start because of
fatigue, allowed one run on four hits.
"We rested some guys today and got out of here taking two of
three," Gardner said. "Plus, we put some pressure on the other
guys."
With a trip to the playoffs pretty much secure, the Giants
rested Barry Bonds, Bill Mueller, J.T. Snow and Rich Aurilia.
"We were looking for fresh bodies today," said Baker, after
the Giants' 4-3 win in 13 innings on Saturday night that took four
hours, 49 minutes.
At 89-69, San Francisco has the best record in the major
leagues, just ahead of the Chicago White Sox (88-59).
Woody Williams (10-6) allowed four runs and eight hits in eight
innings, struck out six and walked four.
"You have to score some runs," Padres manager Bruce Bochy
said. "Today we didn't do it, we couldn't get a big hit."
Kent tripled leading off the second, Ellis Burks walked, Armando
Rios singled in a run and Ramon Martinez hit a sacrifice fly.
Kent hit his 33rd homer leading off the fourth, giving him 474
RBI in four seasons, one more than Hall-of-Famer Roger Hornsby
for the most RBI in a four-year period by a second baseman.
"I put us in a hole," said Williams. "It's my fault. I don't
care how many runs you score, I still have to do my job."
Kent was ejected in the seventh by plate umpire Tim McClelland
following a called third strike. Kent, thinking it was ball four,
jogged nearly all the way to first base.
"He put himself in that position because he doesn't call the
pitch until the guy's out of the batter's box," Kent said.
Russ Davis hit a run-scoring double in the fifth following Doug
Mirabelli's leadoff single.
Mike Darr hit an RBI single for San Diego in the sixth after
Ryan Klesko's one-out single and a walk to Dave Magadan. Felipe
Crespo hit an RBI double off Todd Erdos in the ninth.
Game notes
San Francisco moved to a season-best 30 games above .500,
its high since finishing the 1993 season 103-59 -- and losing a
division title to Atlanta (104-58). ... This is the first time the
Giants have enjoyed a lead of greater than nine games in the final
month of the season since moving to San Francisco in 1958. ...
Klesko's stolen bases in the fourth made it 19 straight successful
steal attempts for the Padres.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
San Francisco Clubhouse
San Diego Clubhouse
RECAPS
Detroit 5
Boston 4
Cleveland 15
NY Yankees 4
Oakland 0
Tampa Bay 0
Seattle 3
Baltimore 2
Toronto 14
Chi. White Sox 1
Minnesota 1
Anaheim 0
Texas 6
Kansas City 5
Cincinnati 8
Milwaukee 4
Montreal 5
NY Mets 0
Philadelphia 6
Florida 5
St. Louis 4
Chicago Cubs 2
Houston 5
Pittsburgh 3
San Francisco 5
San Diego 1
Los Angeles 12
Colorado 6
Atlanta 7
Arizona 1
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