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RECAP
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BOX SCORE
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GAME LOG
SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Matt Williams gave his old fans something
to remember.
|  | | Matt Williams hits a grand slam off Livan Hernandez in the second inning Sunday. Williams also had an RBI double. |
Williams hit a grand slam in a seven-run second inning against
his former team, and the Arizona Diamondbacks beat the San
Francisco Giants 8-3 Sunday to stave off elimination in the NL wild-card race.
Williams had five RBI, matching his season high for the
Diamondbacks, who dropped out of contention by losing seven of
their previous nine games.
Arizona remained 6 1/2 games behind New York, the NL wild-card
leader, and would be eliminated with one more loss or one more Mets
win.
"We're not out of it yet," Williams said. "We're swimming
upstream against a strong current, but we'll keep playing and see
what happens."
San Francisco has lost three of four since clinching the NL West
on Thursday, but still has the best record in the NL at 93-63, a
half-game better than Atlanta (92-63).
Livan Hernandez (16-11) lost at home for the first time in 10
starts since June 11, allowing eight runs and eight hits in six
innings. He is 12-3 at Pacific Bell Park.
"Maybe I was rushing too much," Hernandez said. "I felt fine,
though. That's the main thing. No problems."
Brian Anderson (11-6) carried a shutout into the sixth inning
and finished with a seven-hitter, his second complete game of the
season and seventh of his career.
"They didn't hit too many balls too hard and I felt I could go
to both sides of the plate," Anderson said. "That opens the game
to the pitcher."
With a crowd of 40,930, the Giants finished their first season
at Pac Bell with sellouts in all 81 home games, drawing a
franchise-record 3,315,330. The old mark of 2,606,354 was at
Candlestick Park in 1993.
Williams, who came up with the Giants in 1987 and played with
them through 1996, received a warm reception from the crowd every
time his name was announced.
"That makes me feel better than anything," said Williams, who
was part of a trade with the Cleveland Indians that brought Jeff
Kent to the Giants following the '96 season. "It's nice to get
that kind of reception and it says the fans liked the way you
played while you were here."
Williams missed the Diamondbacks' first trip to San Francisco in
April, but more than made up for it this time around, collecting 10
hits in 20 at bats with two homers and nine RBI.
"I would like to finish strong," said Williams. "I don't have
any different attitude than I've had every day. A strong finish
would mean some positive out of this year."
Steve Finley walked leading off the second and scored on singles
by Alex Cabrera and Craig Counsell.
Kelly Stinnett walked, Anderson hit a sacrifice fly that made it
2-0 and Tony Womack singled in a run. Luis Gonzalez walked, loading
the bases for Williams, who hit his 10th career slam, a drive that
hit the green roof on top of the right-field wall.
"I threw him a good pitch," Hernandez said. "It was outside
and he hit it hard."
Williams added an RBI double in the fourth that made it 8-0.
"The scouting report said he had been struggling, but he swung
the bat well," Giants manager Dusty Baker said. "Part of me feels
good for him, but I wish he didn't hit a grand slam. He was one of
my prize pupils when I was the hitting coach. He's a quality
person, one of the best people you could possibly meet in this
game."
San Francisco scored on three solo homers: Russ Davis in the
sixth, J.T. Snow in the eighth and Ramon Martinez in the ninth.
Game notes
Williams' previous slam was on Sept. 7, 1999 at Milwaukee.
... The Diamondbacks are the only opposing team to win as many as
five games at Pac Bell Park. ... Finley is 1-for-15 against
Hernandez. ... The Giants were not shut out at home all season. ...
Davis needs one more homer to give the Giants a club-record 10
players with at least 10 homers in the same season. ... It was the
Giants' first home-series loss since June 9-11 against Seattle.
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ALSO SEE
Baseball Scoreboard
Arizona Clubhouse
San Francisco Clubhouse
RECAPS
Baltimore 1
Boston 0
NY Yankees 6
Detroit 3
Tampa Bay 6
Toronto 0
Kansas City 9
Cleveland 0
Minnesota 6
Chi. White Sox 5
Anaheim 9
Texas 2
Seattle 3
Oakland 2
Cincinnati 4
Houston 3
Atlanta 14
Montreal 5
NY Mets 3
Philadelphia 2
Milwaukee 8
Pittsburgh 5
Chicago Cubs 10
St. Louis 5
Colorado 9
Florida 3
Arizona 8
San Francisco 3
Los Angeles 1
San Diego 0
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