It wasn’t as jaw-dropping as Ozzie Smith against Tom Niedenfuer, but in a six-year, 457-game career, Giants infielder Mike Fontenot had hit only one career homer against a left-handed pitcher before he broke a 3-3 tie in the bottom of the sixth inning with a home run off Ted Lilly, giving the Giants a 4-3 victory.
The Associated Press noted it was Fontenot’s first home run against any major-league pitcher since May 7.
Lilly, who had fallen behind 2-0 after two innings before the Dodgers came back with a two-run homer by Rod Barajas (his third of the year) and an RBI double by Aaron Miles (3 for 4), had one out earlier given up a game-tying homer to Pablo Sandoval.
The score stayed the same, but the Dodgers had a somewhat discouraging outing from Hong-Chih Kuo, who struck out two but also walked two and threw only seven strikes in 22 pitches before being relieved by Matt Guerrier. Kuo has walked four of the 13 batters he’s faced this year.
Matt Kemp’s hitting spree hit a speed bump with an 0-for-4 night.
