Giants beaten by their World Series MVP Renteria

CINCINNATI (AP)—The San Francisco Giants saw last season what Edgar Renteria(notes) could do for them.

They saw Friday night what the Cincinnati Reds shortstop can do to them.
Renteria, last year’s World Series Most Valuable Player for the Giants, singled in the bottom of the 13th inning to give the Reds a 4-3 victory.
Jay Bruce(notes) walked on a 3-2 pitch from Brian Wilson(notes) (6-3) to lead off the 13th. Miguel Cairo(notes) flied out, but pitcher Jose Arredondo(notes)—a converted shortstop in his first career major league plate appearance—chopped a single over third baseman Pablo Sandoval(notes) and down the left-field line. Renteria lined a soft single down the right-field line to snap the Reds’ four-game losing streak.
“The swing I saw, he was just able to throw his bat at it, and he was able to place it on the line,” said Wilson, the seventh San Francisco pitcher. “Nothing you can do about that.”
Sandoval wasn’t surprised that Renteria, whose three-run homer in the seventh inning of the clinching Game 5 snapped a scoreless tie against Texas in last year’s World Series, was Cincinnati’s hero.
“That’s the only guy you don’t want up there in that situation,” Sandoval said. “He’s done that a lot in that situation.”
What was surprising to many was Arredondo’s hit, though manager Bruce Bochy suspected the pitcher had that capability.
“We knew he could swing the bat a little bit, even though he didn’t have an average,” Bochy said. “We got the ground ball, but you can’t always control those hops.”
Arredondo (2-3) pitched a perfect 13th.
Both teams escaped bases-loaded jams in the 10th. San Francisco left fielder Nate Schierholtz(notes) threw out Joey Votto(notes) at the plate to complete an inning-ending double play.
Carlos Beltran(notes) got his first hit with the Giants, driving in a run in the top of the first.
The Giants fell behind, then tied the game in the eighth when Aubrey Huff(notes) scored from first base on Eli Whiteside’s(notes) double up the left-center field gap off of Bill Bray(notes).
They loaded the bases in the sixth, but only got Huff’s sacrifice fly.
Cincinnati went ahead 3-1 in the second inning. Ryan Vogelsong(notes) hit Paul Janish(notes) with a pitch, and Janish went from first to third on pitcher Dontrelle Willis’(notes) single to right. Janish scored on Drew Stubbs’(notes) grounder to second.
The Reds scored twice in the bottom of the first after the Giants took a 1-0 lead on Beltran’s single.
The former Mets slugger went 0 for 4 in his Giants debut on Thursday, snapping at 32 his streak of consecutive games in which he reached base at least once.
In the bottom half, Brandon Phillips(notes) hit a sacrifice fly and Bruce singled to right to put Cincinnati ahead.
Willis and Vogelsong both lasted six innings. Willis allowed six hits and two runs with two walks and three strikeout, and hit a batter.
Vogelsong gave up seven hits and three runs with two walks and one strikeout. He also hit a batter.
“That’s as bad as I’ve been in the first two innings,” Vogelsong said. “I couldn’t get anything going. I told myself that I’d better get my (stuff) together, or I’ll be out of the game. Finally, I just started throwing the ball a little bit. I don’t know if I was guiding it or pushing it, but I just got (angry) and started throwing it.”
NOTES: Willis has gotten at least one hit in each of his four starts since being called up from Triple-A Louisville by the Reds on July 10. … LHP Barry Zito(notes) will start Sunday for the Giants, Bochy said. … Giants LHP Jonathan Sanchez(notes), on the disabled list since June 25 with left biceps tendinitis, will be activated in time to start Aug. 5 against Philadelphia, Bochy said, adding that Sanchez might make one more rehab appearance before then. … Phillips’ first-inning RBI was the 500th RBI of his seven-year career. … Reds SS Zack Cozart(notes), on the disabled list with a hyperextended left elbow, took some swings before Friday’s game for the first time since he was injured on July 23.