The Arizona Diamondbacks had won nine straight games and built a six-game lead in the NL West. The San Francisco Giants had struggled mightily coming into the series that pit the two rivals against one another in the race to the playoffs and the pennant. However, behind the pitching of Matt Cain and the bat of Carlos Beltran, the Giants temporarily stopped the bleeding by defeating Arizona 6-2.
The Diamondbacks staked themselves to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, and it looked like the streak would continue. Aaron Hill singled, Justin Upton walked and the Miguel Montero extended his career-high hitting streak to 11 games with an RBI double.
Joe Saunders couldn't make the lead stick. He gave up three runs in the third inning -- one on an RBI double by Mike Keppinger and the other two coming on a two-run HR by Carlos Beltran.
Beltran had four hits and three RBI in the game. He singled in Matt Cain in the fifth inning to get the lead to 4-2, after the Diamondbacks had gotten a run back in the top of the inning from a triple by Ryan Roberts and a sacrifice fly by Aaron Hill.
The Giants finished their scoring in the seventh when Cody Ross hit a two-run HR off of recently called up Sam Demel.
With the loss, Saunders falls to 9-12 on the season. He pitched 5 1/3 innings and allowed four runs.
Cain pitched eight innings to pick up his 11th win of the season.
San Francisco now is five games back in the West. The series will continue Saturday evening as Ian Kennedy will face off against Tim Lincecum.