Giants Win Again to Tighten Race

Jeff Kent didn’t know he almost hit for the cycle. And it didn’t matter to him anyway.

What mattered was another San Francisco victory--the Giants’ fifth in a row--further narrowing the race in the NL West.

Kent went four for four and drove in two runs as the Giants beat the Colorado Rockies, 6-1, Saturday.

Kent was a homer shy of hitting for the cycle.

“No, I had no idea,” he said.

The former NL most valuable player last hit for the cycle May 3, 1999, at Pittsburgh.

Jason Schmidt (5-3) gave up three hits over eight innings as the Giants moved within two games of the Diamondbacks in the division. Arizona took over the lead with a 7-5 victory Saturday over the now-second place Dodgers.

The Rockies have lost four in a row, and didn’t score in 21 innings until Chad Zerbe gave up an RBI single to Todd Helton in the ninth. Friday night, Livan Hernandez threw a four-hit shutout in a 9-0 Giant victory.

The Rockies have only nine hits in the last two games.

“Our pitching has done a fantastic job,” Kent raved. “They’ve certainly proven it in the last two games.”

John Thomson (7-8) worked five innings, giving up four runs--three earned--and six hits.

The Giants took an early lead on Kent’s run-scoring triple in the first inning. It was his first triple of the season.

Benito Santiago’s solo home run off Thomson in the second put San Francisco ahead, 2-0.

The Giants scored two more runs in the fifth with the help of two Colorado errors on the same play.