Vogelsong finishes strong; Wilson done for season

A record-breaking sellout crowd sent off Ryan Vogelsong with a rousing ovation Monday night. But they couldn’t deliver a final salute to their bearded wonder in the bullpen.

Vogelsong pitched seven shutout innings in the Giants’ 3-1 victory over the Colorado Rockies, capping an out-of-nowhere All-Star season in which his 2.71 ERA led a brilliant starting staff.

Closer Brian Wilson did not pick up the save, though. Manager Bruce Bochy confirmed that Wilson, who had missed a month with an inflamed elbow before making two appearances last week, will be shut down for the season.

“I don’t see the point of throwing Brian out there now,” Bochy said. “He wants to pitch. It’s the old risk-reward adage.”

Wilson hustled out of the clubhouse and did not stop when asked for comment, saying, “I’m not going to talk about myself.”

Vogelsong was a much more dramatic topic, anyway. Signed as a minor league free agent, the 34-year-old veteran of the Japanese leagues hadn’t pitched in the majors since 2006 before cracking the Giants rotation in late April.

He ended up tying Tim Lincecum for the staff lead with 13 victories; Vogelsong ranks fourth in the N.L. in ERA, too — just in front of Lincecum (2.74). He cemented a place in next year’s rotation, and probably will score a multiyear contract.

SAN DIEGO — Brett Pill doesn’t wear thick smears of eye black, speak in a screeching, Louisiana drawl or fill up a room with his outsize personality.

But after Tuesday night, he does own a place in Giants history alongside Will Clark. And a new nickname, too.

A quarter-century after “Will the Thrill” so memorably hit a home run in his first big league plate appearance, “Pill the Thrill” became the first Giant to replicate his feat.

Pill took a called strike before digging out a breaking pitch from San Diego Padres left-hander Wade LeBlanc, lining a no-doubt, two-run shot in the second inning that smacked the second-deck railing of the Western Metal Supply Co. building in left field.

Carlos Beltran added RBIs in three different innings as the Giants won 6-4 at Petco Park. The victory went to rookie Eric Surkamp — his first in the big leagues — and wouldn’t you know it? For just the fourth time in 34 days, they made up ground in the N.L. West, too. They are six back with 20 to play after the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks lost at Colorado.

A Giants player hadn’t homered in his first career plate appearance since Clark took Nolan Ryan deep on the first swing of his big league life in the 1986 season opener at the Astrodome. Pill joined Clark and Johnnie LeMaster (in 1975) as the only Giants to accomplish the feat in the club’s 54 seasons in San Francisco.

Pill, who turns 27 Friday, tamped down a smile as he rounded the

bases but couldn’t keep a straight face the whole way.

“When I hit it, I figured it was gone, but that’s still the fastest I’ve ever ran around the bases,” Pill said. “Coming around third, you could just tell how happy the guys were. It’s an awesome team. They’re all pulling for you.”

He’d heard “Pill the Thrill” while knocking in 107 runs for Triple-A Fresno but didn’t feel worthy of it. What does he think of it now?

“That’s a big name to live up to, so I don’t know,” he said, “but it sounds cool.”

The Giants inched closer to Arizona with a lineup that, incredibly, didn’t feature a single player who started on opening day. In fact, Mark DeRosa was the only member of Tuesday’s lineup who was on the opening-day roster. And three of the nine — Pill, Surkamp and newly promoted center fielder Justin Christian — had spring-training lockers at the Giants’ minor league complex.

But Surkamp got a key double-play grounder to complete five innings, and the Giants survived Santiago Casilla’s wildness in the ninth to protect Surkamp’s victory and ensure he’d get the requisite beer shower from teammates.

“I didn’t know that was coming,” Surkamp said. “I’m up here, I’m new. To see all these guys up here get a shot, it’s great.”

Before the game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy said the farm-fresh lineup wasn’t a sign the club is looking ahead to next season.

“We think we’re putting our best club out there to win this game today,” said Bochy, citing Aubrey Huff’s bad back and Pablo Sandoval’s weak shoulder while batting right-handed.

DeRosa continues to become part of that club, too. He punched a single ahead of Pill’s home run, which gave Surkamp the early lead.

“To be honest, it didn’t shock me,” DeRosa said. “I’ve spent so much time rehabbing in Fresno. I’ve seen it. A big kid, has simple mechanics and he finds the barrel repeatedly.”

Beltran is beginning to thrill in September, too. In four games this month, he is 11 for 15 with two doubles, two triples, one home run, six RBIs, two walks and no strikeouts. He hit a tiebreaking single in the third inning as the Giants clinched just their second series win out of their last 12.

The Giants also scored at least six runs in consecutive games for the first time since July 14-15, when they opened the second half at San Diego.

Bochy said he planned to sit Pill in place of Huff on Wednesday but reserved the right to change his mind. He’ll also need to revisit the closer situation after Casilla, the interim guy, hit two batters in a major meltdown; Ramon Ramirez had to strike out Jesus Guzman with the bases loaded to end it.

“I’m gonna go with my gut from this point on,” Bochy said.

What if that gut inspires more Grizzlies than grizzled vets?

“I tell you what, it definitely sparks some energy, no doubt,” DeRosa said. “These guys are all hungry. They’re all fighting to prove they belong here. I love it. I really think these guys can help us.”

For more on the Giants, see Andrew Baggarly’s Extra Baggs blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/extrabaggs.

The Arizona Diamondbacks scored a decisive knockout of Tim Lincecum on Saturday night, and in the process, might have put the defending World Series champion Giants down for the count in 2011.

The Diamondbacks didn’t just deliver a severe mathematical punch to the Giants with a 7-2 victory at AT&T Park. They also landed a heavy psychological blow by scoring in four consecutive innings against San Francisco’s ace and sending him to the showers with nobody out in the top of the sixth inning with back-to-back doubles ringing in his ears.

While it might still be a bit early to start calculating magic numbers for Arizona to win the N.L. West — for the record, it’s 18 — Kirk Gibson’s team can take comfort that it will leave the Bay Area on Sunday with at least a five-game division lead and possibly seven with just 22 games to play for both clubs.

“Sure, it’s a tough loss, and we know we’re running out of time,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “But we have to keep battling.”

After getting a foot in the door Friday night with a 6-2 victory behind Matt Cain, the Giants banked heavily that their main man Lincecum could keep the momentum going by outdueling the Diamondbacks’ ace right-hander, Ian Kennedy.

But despite starting well, Lincecum (12-12) simply couldn’t craft one of his big-game gems. He gave up nine hits and five earned runs, at least one over four consecutive innings. One was a fourth-inning homer by rookie Paul Goldschmidt,

who touched Lincecum for his first major league homer on Aug. 2. Ryan Roberts and Gerardo Parra finished Lincecum’s night with back-to-back doubles to open the sixth.

“I just wasn’t finishing my pitches, and everything that was breaking was breaking into the zone,” Lincecum said. “I also got away from the game plan against guys like Goldschmidt. I’ve got to elevate the ball in on him, and I just kept throwing it knee high where he could get to those kind of balls.”

Goldschmidt, who also had an RBI in the fifth, said he has no special mojo when going up against the Giants right-hander.

“He’s so good, you just have to try and capitalize on any mistakes you get, and if he falls behind, try to make it hurt,” he said. “You just try to get into a good count, and on the home run, I was able to get it to 2-0, and he threw me a fastball I could hit hard.”

Goldschmidt’s homer broke a 1-1 tie, and the Diamondbacks kept adding on from there against Lincecum, who achieved a rare milestone by reaching 200 strikeouts for the fourth straight year, just the third man in franchise history to do it.

But it was a hollow achievement in the wake of the drubbing.

“Of course it’s disappointing,” he said. “Obviously, these two games were big for us coming into the series, and throwing up something like that is not good for anybody.”

It was good for the Diamondbacks, who can smell the finish line after their ace outdueled the Giants’ ace. Kennedy (18-4), who has won 10 of his past 11 starts, limited the Giants to five hits over seven innings, and the one run he allowed in the third inning only momentarily tied the score.

“Seven innings from Kennedy was big for us, and tacking on runs against Lincecum, that was also big,” Gibson said.

The Giants had one last opportunity to get back into the game after Kennedy departed. Jeff Keppinger and Carlos Beltran stroked back-to-back singles to open the inning against reliever David Hernandez. But the Giants scored only once as Beltran was thrown out at second base on Pablo Sandoval’s fly ball.

Any Giants victory is cause for celebration these days, so while a 2-1 win over Houston on Friday night didn’t exactly signal a breakout, it did alleviate a few of the foreboding vibes around AT&T Park.

For starters, the Giants won a game without their best hitter, Pablo Sandoval, who took a day off to rest nagging aches in his shoulder and quad. They also received a rare contribution from Mark DeRosa, who started at first base in place of the struggling Aubrey Huff and made a brilliant third-inning defensive scoop that might have saved the game.

The Giants still trail the Arizona Diamondbacks by three games in the N.L. West. But in keeping pace, they showed some signs of offensive life, even though they managed just four hits. Carlos Beltran had two hits and a walk and made solid contact every time he swung the bat. Jeff Keppinger ripped a two-run double in the fifth that provided the victory margin.

Finally, the pitching was back to stingy winning form. Starter Madison Bumgarner (8-12) allowed just one run over 61/3 innings and received fabulous relief support from Ramon Ramirez and Santiago Casilla to preserve the Giants’ 30th one-run victory. Ramirez and Casilla combined to pitch 22/3 innings and didn’t allow a baserunner via hit or walk, striking out five.

“Ramirez came in a tough spot — first and third with the tying run on — and made some great pitches and saved us,” manager Bruce Bochy said. “Then Casilla,

with his second save in the last few days, what a great job he did. And Madison pitched well in a game where we needed it.”

Early on, it looked as if it might be another frustrating night for the punchless Giants. They put runners on in each of the first three innings against Astros starter J.A. Happ (4-15) but couldn’t score.

The Giants broke through in the fifth with some help. Chris Stewart’s leadoff grounder up the middle was mishandled by shortstop Clint Barmes for an error. After Bumgarner sacrificed Stewart to second, Cabrera walked.

Keppinger then battled back from an 0-2 hole to get the count to 3-2 and finally rifled a ball into the left-center gap on the ninth pitch of his at-bat.

“The first two pitches were pitchers’ pitches,” he said. “I was sitting on the fastball the whole time, fouled a couple off and finally (Happ) gave me one out over the plate I could handle.”

As for DeRosa, he made an incredible pick of an errant Miguel Tejada rocket throw from third base with two on and two out in the third. It saved at least one run and possibly two. At least psychologically, it changed the whole complexion of the game.

“Out of position, wet grass, man in scoring position, that was a 10,” DeRosa said when asked about the degree of difficulty of his play. “To be honest with you, when you’re playing a position you haven’t played and aren’t comfortable at, you just go back to being an athlete, not try and think too much.”

Then DeRosa, noting that he used Sandoval’s first-base glove, added, “That’s do-or-die. That’s luck. It found my glove.”

Bochy disagreed.

“That’s pretty impressive for a guy who really hasn’t played a lot of first base,” he said. “That’s not an easy play, but what a pick.”

The Astros made a serious bid to overtake the Giants in the seventh, chasing Bumgarner from the game in the process. Former Giant Matt Downs was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, and Jose Altuve followed with a single to left. On a Barmes missed bunt attempt, Stewart appeared to have Downs caught off second but bounced his throw into center field for an error.

Downs and Altuve moved up a base, and after Barmes grounded out to third base, scoring Downs, Humberto Quintero singled sharply to left, Altuve holding up at third. Bochy made the call for Ramirez, who struck out pinch hitter Brian Bogusevic and got Jordan Schafer to hit into a force play.