CINCINNATI (AP)—Orlando Cabrera(notes) welcomed his trade to the San Francisco
Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly.

The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for
Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.

The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to
Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to
put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds.

That’s exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to
Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis(notes).

“I was just watching,” said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and
38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. “I like to play. I was happy they were
trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I’m happy it was the
Giants.”

The Giants are Cabrera’s ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping
the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since
1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years
he’d helped reach the playoffs.

He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing
with Cleveland.

“Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel
flattered,” said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with
Boston. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out at that moment.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants’ shortstop for quite a
while. Miguel Tejada(notes) is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but
Bochy doesn’t expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for
several weeks.

“He’s not able to move very much,” Bochy said Sunday morning. “He’s at
least a week away from playing games, and he’s going to have to play games on
his rehab to get ready.”

The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford(notes) to Triple-A Fresno to
make room on the roster for Cabrera.

CINCINNATI — Orlando Cabrera welcomed his trade to the San Francisco Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly.

The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.

The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds.

That’s exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis.

“I was just watching,” said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and 38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. “I like to play. I was happy they were trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I’m happy it was the Giants.”

The Giants are Cabrera’s ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since 1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years he’d helped reach the playoffs.

He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing with Cleveland.

“Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel flattered,” said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with Boston. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out at that moment.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants’ shortstop for quite a while. Miguel Tejada is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but Bochy doesn’t expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for several weeks.

“He’s not able to move very much,” Bochy said Sunday morning. “He’s at least a week away from playing games, and he’s going to have to play games on his rehab to get ready.”

The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford to Triple-A Fresno to make room on the roster for Cabrera.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

CINCINNATI (AP)—Orlando Cabrera(notes) welcomed his trade to the San Francisco
Giants because it will give him the opportunity to play regularly.

The Giants acquired Cabrera from the Cleveland Indians Saturday night for
Triple-A outfielder Thomas Neal.

The 36-year-old Cabrera took a flight early Sunday morning from Cleveland to
Cincinnati, arriving about 8:30 a.m., in time for Giants manager Bruce Bochy to
put him in the starting lineup for the series finale against the Reds.

That’s exactly what Cabrera was looking for after losing his starting job to
Cleveland rookie Jason Kipnis(notes).

“I was just watching,” said Cabrera, who hit .244 with four home runs and
38 RBIs in 91 games with the Indians. “I like to play. I was happy they were
trying to trade me because of the situation there, and I’m happy it was the
Giants.”

The Giants are Cabrera’s ninth team. He played Cincinnati last year, helping
the Reds to their first division championship and postseason appearance since
1995. They were the fourth consecutive team and sixth in the last seven years
he’d helped reach the playoffs.

He said San Francisco was one of the teams he talked with before signing
with Cleveland.

“Every time the world champion wants your services, you always have to feel
flattered,” said Cabrera, a 12-year veteran who won the 2004 World Series with
Boston. “Unfortunately, things didn’t work out at that moment.”

Manager Bruce Bochy expects Cabrera to be the Giants’ shortstop for quite a
while. Miguel Tejada(notes) is eligible to come off the disabled list on Thursday, but
Bochy doesn’t expect Tejada to recover from his lower abdominal strain for
several weeks.

“He’s not able to move very much,” Bochy said Sunday morning. “He’s at
least a week away from playing games, and he’s going to have to play games on
his rehab to get ready.”

The Giants optioned rookie shortstop Brandon Crawford(notes) to Triple-A Fresno to
make room on the roster for Cabrera.

CINCINNATI — The Cincinnati Reds took care of business early to help Mike Leake get a big win Saturday.

They scored five first-inning runs on their way to a 7-2 win against the San Francisco Giants.

Seven players each had a hit for the Reds on their way to a second consecutive win for just the second time since sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series in Cincinnati June 13-15. Cincinnati won the series opener 4-3 in 13 innings Friday.

“It helped to score those first inning runs,” Dusty Baker said. “We haven’t been scoring a lot of runs lately.”

Leake, who leads the Reds in wins despite spending 13 days with Triple-A Louisville in May, earned his career-high ninth. The second-year right-hander, winner of eight games as a rookie in 2010, allowed eight hits and two runs — one earned — with no walks and seven strikeouts in 6 1/3 innings.

“I’m not going to stop there,” Leake said.

The right-hander had quality starts in his past two outings but both resulted in losses as his teammates scored just three runs total, including a shutout loss to Pittsburgh.

“As a pitcher you never complain about runs,” Leake said. “Our offense is coming around.”

The Giants loaded the bases with one out against Leake in the seventh, but left-hander Bill Bray came on to get Carlos Beltran to fly out to left and Pablo Sandoval to ground out to third.

“Bray was outstanding against the middle of their order,” Baker said.

Beltran flied out in the ninth and is 1-for-14 in three games with the Giants since being traded from the Mets on Thursday.

Logan Ondrusek and Nick Masset added a shutout inning for the Reds.

The Reds pounced on an uncharacteristically wild Madison Bumgarner for five hits and five runs in sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning. Brandon Phillips drove in the first run with a single to left, and Jay Bruce and Chris Heisey followed with back-to-back two-run singles up the middle.

Heisey, who is seeing most of the playing time since Jonny Gomes was traded to Washington, can feel the offense heating up.

“At any point, I think our offense can take off,” Heisey said. “We didn’t have a lot of key hits lately but were able to sting them together tonight. As a hitter, you hate to see a guy battling out there when you’re not scoring runs.

Bumgarner, who hadn’t walked more than one batter in any of his previous 10 starts and none in his three most recent appearances, didn’t help himself with two walks in the inning. The left-hander also hit Miguel Cairo while throwing 40 pitches, 23 for strikes.

The Giants got one run back on Sandoval’s 446-foot home run into the right-center field seats leading off the second, his 11th homer of the season and second in three games, but the Reds capitalized on two Giants errors to add to two unearned runs in the fourth.

Then Reds shortstop Edgar Renteria committed two errors in the fifth to hand San Francisco a gift run.

The veteran went to talk to Leake after his second error.

“You know he doesn’t want to make them,” Leake said. “He came in just to pick me up. When I was younger, I would have gotten angry but at some point you learn to deal with it.”

Leake, who spent no time in the minor leagues until his stint in May worked out of the jam.

“That’s the sign of a good pitcher, when you can pitch yourself out of trouble,” Baker said. “He has a lot of weapons. He has the pitches to get a double play. He’s not a strikeout pitcher but can get them when he needs to.”

Bumgarner (6-10) lasted four innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs — five earned — with three walks and four strikeouts. He also was called for a balk.

Notes: Left-hander Aroldis Chapman hasn’t allowed a hit in 8-23 innings in his past seven appearances, the longest single-season stretch by a Reds reliever since Chuck McElroy went 11 1/3 innings from April 25-May 17, 1994, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Chapman has retired 25 of the past 26 batters he’s faced, with one walk and 13 strikeouts. … Giants manager Bruce Bochy planned to give first Aubrey Huff Saturday and today off after he played all 13 innings Friday after the team’s 2:30 a.m. arrival from Philadelphia. … Reds second baseman Brandon Phillips extended his hitting streak to nine games (13-for-38, .342), the team’s longest current streak.

But Cincinnati scored five first-inning runs on their way to a 7-2 win over the San Francisco Giants before a sellout crowd on Saturday.

“I don’t think I have an answer for it,” said Bumgarner, who’s allowed a total of 18 runs in the first innings of his 22 starts, matched only by the 18 he’s allowed in 21 third innings. “I got some ground balls that found some holes. I don’t think the first inning has anything to do with it. Sometimes, it’s the third. Sometimes, it’s the fifth. I wasn’t spot on like I wanted to be. I felt like I was accurate.”

Manager Bruce Bochy felt Bumgarner had trouble finding his rhythm.

“More than anything, it’s settling in and getting the ball where he wants it to be,” Bochy said. “He was up. I don’t know if he had trouble getting acclimated to the mound or the weather. He just couldn’t get settled in in time.”

Seven players each had a hit for the Reds on their way to a second consecutive win for just the second time since sweeping the Los Angeles Dodgers in a three-game series in Cincinnati June 13-15. Cincinnati won the series opener 4-3 in 13 innings on Friday.

Mike Leake, who leads the Reds in wins despite spending 13 days with Triple-A Louisville in May, earned his career-high ninth. The second-year right-hander, winner of eight games as a rookie in 2010, allowed eight hits and two runs — one earned — with no walks and seven strikeouts in 6 1-3 innings.

The Giants loaded the bases with one out against Leake (9-6) in the seventh, but left-hander Bill Bray came on to get Carlos Beltran to fly out harmlessly to left and Pablo Sandoval to ground out to third.

Beltran flied out in the ninth and now is 1 for 14 in three games with the Giants since being traded from the Mets on Thursday, but Bochy wasn’t surprised.

“He’s a pro,” Bochy said. “He’ll be fine. It’s a settling-in process. He’s moving his family, getting to know his teammates.”

Logan Ondrusek and Nick Masset each added a shutout inning for the Reds.

The Reds pounced on the uncharacteristically wild Bumgarner for five hits and five runs while sending 11 batters to the plate in the first inning. Brandon Phillips drove in the first run with a single to left, and Jay Bruce and Chris Heisey followed with back-to-back two-run singles up the middle.

Bumgarner, who hadn’t walked more than one batter in any of his previous 10 starts and none in his three most recent appearances, didn’t help himself with two walks in the inning. The left-hander, who said sweat made it difficult to grip the ball, also hit Miguel Cairo while throwing 40 pitches, 23 for strikes, the last getting Edgar Renteria to end the inning.

“He was facing his last hitter,” Bochy said. “If he didn’t get him out, I was going to go get him. You’re hoping. Hope becomes your strategy. It’s like a fighter who’s wobbly. You’re hoping for the bell.”

The Giants got one run back on Sandoval’s 446-foot home run deep into the right-center field seats leading off the second, his 11th homer of the season and second in three games, but the Reds capitalized on two Giants errors to add to two unearned runs in the fourth.

Then Reds shortstop Edgar Renteria committed two errors in the fifth to hand San Francisco a gift run.

Bumgarner (6-10) lasted four innings, allowing seven hits and seven runs — five earned — with three walks and four strikeouts. He also was called for a balk.

The crowd of 40,402 was Cincinnati’s 12th sellout of the season, a record for Great American Ball Park. The previous record was set in 2003, the year the ballpark opened, and tied in 2004.

Notes: LHP Aroldis Chapman hasn’t allowed a hit in 8-23 innings over his last seven appearances, the longest single-season stretch by a Reds reliever since Chuck McElroy went 11 1-3 innings in from April 25 through May 17, 1994, according to Elias Sports Bureau. Chapman has retired 25 of the last 26 batters he’s faced, with one walk and 13 strikeouts. … Giants manager Bruce Bochy planned to give 1B Aubrey Huff Saturday and Sunday off after he played all 13 innings Friday following the team’s 2:30 a.m. arrival from Philadelphia. … Reds 2B Brandon Phillips extended his hitting streak to nine games (13 for 38, .342), the team’s longest current streak.

Copyright 2011 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.