Giants Victims of Houdini Act

The San Francisco Giants had Milwaukee starter Scott Karl on the ropes but couldn’t deliver a knockout punch and lost, 5-1, Tuesday.

Of Karl, Brewer Manager Phil Garner said, “He got out of more jams than Houdini.”

Karl (6-6), who had lost his previous five decisions, gave up eight hits in eight innings. He got Barry Bonds to fly deep to left field with two out and the bases loaded in the second, and faced his biggest jam in the eighth.

He walked the first two batters in that inning, but retired Jeff Kent on a soft liner to second, Charlie Hayes on a foul popup and Stan Javier on a grounder to shortstop.

“I was furious; that’s just not good pitching,” Karl said of the walks. “I’m glad Garner had the confidence to stick with me. That’s huge to me, the manager gave me the chance to get out of my jams.

“I don’t think it felt as much Houdini as we just made good pitches and got out of situations. I made mistakes that they hit, but when I made the right pitches we got outs.”

Giant Manager Dusty Baker said his team didn’t take advantage of its opportunities against Karl, including leadoff hits in the third and fifth innings.

“We had him on the ropes three times and he came at us. He threw some balls and we chased them,” Baker said.

Mark Loretta had four hits and drove in three runs, getting a run-scoring single in the fifth and a two-run double against closer Robb Nen during a three-run ninth.

The Brewers’ Marquis Grissom had three hits, including a solo home run in the sixth that barely cleared the yellow home run line on the outfield fence. Second base umpire Jerry Meals ruled the ball was in play off the wall, but two other umpires overruled him.

Bonds was hitless in two at-bats and is hitting .162 since returning from the disabled list June 9.