Aubrey Huff never had a three home run game in his Major League career, but that’s not going to keep him from telling his grandchildren otherwise.

Despite absolutely crushing three balls to the deepest parts of AT&T Park on Wednesday in the Giants 6-0 win over the Pirates, Huff is still without a personal long-ball trifecta.

“I’ve never had a three-home-run game. I’m going to go ahead and chalk that up as a three-home-run game in my mind,” Huff said. “I don’t know if I can hit a ball any better. I hit one to center for an out and the one to right-center was just ridiculous.

If that don’t go out, I don’t know what you can do. Everybody in spring told me, ‘You’ll see, you’ll see.’ I’m like, ‘Come on, if you get it it’s going to go.’ ‘Nah. …’ “I get it now. I get it,” Huff said.

In his first at bat against Pirates right-hander Charlie Morton leading off the second inning, the Giants cleanup hitter smoked a ball high off the right-center field wall. It kicked toward the foul line, away from right fielder Garrett Jones, and before second baseman Akinori Iwamura could retrieve the unusual carom, Huff was sliding safely into home, earning his first homer as a Giant in less than conventional fashion.

“When I hit it, I thought it was gone anyway. In most parks it is,” Huff told the Associate Press. “I saw it bounce off the wall and as soon as I rounded first I saw it took an amazing hop right. I’m like: ‘Oh boy, here we go. If I am going to hit one out I’m going to try to get a cheapie.'”

Later, to end the fourth inning, Huff watched in frustration as Pittsburgh center-fielder Andrew McCutchen ran down his long fly-out in deep center. His next at bat in the sixth, resulted in another China Basin cruelty, as Huff’s smash was absorbed by the vaunted “Triples Alley, ” ironically holding him to a double.

It was the fourth time in the series Huff was likely robbed by the dimensions of his new home.

Aaron Rowand and Eli Whiteside didn’t endure similar misfortunes. Whiteside’s three-run blast – his first of the year – into the left field seats staked his battery mate Jonathan Sanchez (1-0) to a 4-0 second-inning lead, and Rowand’s fifth-inning bolt made it 6-0. Since opening the season 0-for-10, Rowand is 12-for-30 (.438), and has more hits than any leadoff hitter in baseball on the year.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy was unsure about writing Whiteside’s name into the lineup early on Wednesday with Bengie Molina amidst a scorching stretch at the plate. But after going 2-for-3, and catching a scoreless eight-inning, 11 strikeout performance by Sanchez, Whiteside proved to be up to the challenge.
“Pretty good job back there,” Sanchez said of Whiteside. “He got me deep in the game.”

Outside of a shaky first inning, Sanchez was excellent, but had to escape a bases-loaded jam in the sixth to earn his first career win over the Pirates. It was his fourth career outing with 10 or more strikeouts, and the 11 matched a career high he set during his no-hitter last July 10. Sanchez, who received a standing ovation while walking off the field in the eighth, went more than seven innings for the first time since August 26, against Arizona (seven starts).
“I feel more confident out there,” Sanchez said. “I can trust myself now.”

The Giants improved to 7-2 in 2010, the team’s best start since going 8-1 to open the 2003 season. That year the Giants went 100-62 to win the NL West.

Re-printed with permission of the author.

Theo is a staff reporter and feature writer for the Marin Independent Journal where he covers local prep and college sports. As an Associate Production Manager for ESPN, he helped produce Sunday Night Baseball among other national ESPN and ABC Sports telecasts. Besides his contributions to Examiner.com, the I.J. and Sports Climax, Theo is the play-by-play voice for Sonoma State University baseball and softball.

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