Giantsportal.com | San Francisco Giants News, giants Scores, Game Recaps & Commentary - <div>Pablo Sandoval did a face-plant trying to leg out a triple in the eighth inning Monday night, but the Giants rookie had no trouble keeping on his feet in the ninth. </div>Sandoval hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Giants to a 9-7 comeback victory over the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park. The Giants are four games over .500 for the first time this season and moved three games behind the West-leading Dodgers. Sandoval, who tripped halfway between second and third an inning earlier, helped the Giants salvage what would have been a disappointing loss. Matt Cain, seeking to go 4-1 for the first time in his career, turned in another solid performance and left leading 5-4 after seven innings before the bullpen collapsed. Bob Howry allowed three of the five batters he faced to reach base to tie the score, and then the Nationals went ahead on two infield singles off Jeremy Affeldt. With two outs and the bases loaded and the scored tied at 5-5, Nick Johnson hit a grounder that first baseman Travis Ishikawa dived to his right to knock down. Second baseman Emmanuel Burriss was behind Ishikawa, and as both players scrambled to retrieve the ball, two runners scored on the play. But the Giants weren't done. Bengie Molina hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season, to lead off the eighth and cut the Giants' deficit to 7-6. Then in the ninth, Burriss singled with two out and went to second on Nationals reliever Joe Beimel's errant pickoff throw to first base. After Edgar Renteria walked, Sandoval worked a 2-2 count before blasting a fastball into the left-field seats. The Nationals started to make things interesting in the seventh, when Nick Johnson hit a three-run homer to cut the Giants' lead to 5-4. Cain also couldn't prevent Ryan Zimmerman from extending his hitting streak to 30 games. Zimmerman didn't take long to remove the intrigue, lining a single to center field in his first at-bat. His streak is the longest in the majors since Moises Alou also had a 30-game hitting streak in 2007. But for the most part, Cain provided another solid outing before the bullpen failed to protect his lead. One of the keys was that he pitched with a lead for every inning but the first. Cain has received the worst run support of any pitcher in the majors since 2006, although at this rate he'll quickly relinquish that title. Tuesday was the fifth time in seven starts the Giants have scored at least four runs while Cain has been in the game. Not surprisingly, Randy Winn helped spark the offense. Winn has been hitting over .400 for the past two weeks and had 7 hits in 10 at-bats in the previous two games. He kept that hot streak going with a two-run double in the first inning that helped stake Cain to an early lead. The key at-bat in the rally was provided by Molina, who finally drew his long-awaited first walk of the season. Molina, in his 120th plate appearance, watched a 3-1 breaking ball from Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmerman sail low and outside. Molina paused briefly before discarding his bat and trotting to first base. Winn lined the next pitch to the center field wall, easily scoring Edgar Renteria from second base. Third base coach Tim Flannery, somewhat surprisingly, motioned the catcher for home. Nationals second baseman Anderson Hernandez appeared to have a chance for a close play at the plate on Molina, who was laboring as he rounded third. But Hernandez instead took a shot at Winn after he took a wide turn around second base. Winn was tagged out in the subsequent rundown, but Molina scored to give the Giants a 2-0 lead. Renteria added a two-out, two-run double in a three-run fourth that made it 5-1. Travis Ishikawa, who continued to break out of his recent hitting funk with two more hits and had an RBI single in the fourth, scored the final run in the rally with a nice slide to get around Nationals catcher Wil Nieves. Ishikawa stretched his left leg out mid-slide to catch the back of the plate. That figured to be plenty of support for Cain, who hasn't lost to the Nationals in three years. Cain didn't allow a runner as far as second base until the third inning, and then he helped himself with a nice defensive play on Jordan Zimmerman's bunt. Cain fielded the ball and fired to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who tagged out Wil Nieves, who had led off with a double. The Nationals appeared to have a big inning brewing in the fourth, when Ryan Zimmerman lined a single to center. Then Adam Dunn hit a deep fly to right field. Nate Shierholtz battled the wind and, at the wall, tried to make a twisting catch, but the ball hit off the heel of his glove for a double. Cain struck out Austin Kearns, but Willie Harris' sacrifice fly to right cut the Giants' lead to 2-1. Cain took a 5-1 lead into the seventh inning, but ran into trouble after allowing two-out singles to Alex Cintron and Cristian Guzman. Then Johnson lined a 2-1 fastball over the left-field wall to cut the Giants lead to 5-4. Giants 9, Nationals 7 ?Today: vs. Washington, 12:45 p.m. ?TV/Radio: CSN/KNBR (680)

Pablo Sandoval did a face-plant trying to leg out a triple in the eighth inning Monday night, but the Giants rookie had no trouble keeping on his feet in the ninth.

Sandoval hit a two-out, three-run homer in the bottom of the ninth inning to lift the Giants to a 9-7 comeback victory over the Washington Nationals at AT&T Park.

The Giants are four games over .500 for the first time this season and moved three games behind the West-leading Dodgers.

Sandoval, who tripped halfway between second and third an inning earlier, helped the Giants salvage what would have been a disappointing loss. Matt Cain, seeking to go 4-1 for the first time in his career, turned in another solid performance and left leading 5-4 after seven innings before the bullpen collapsed.

Bob Howry allowed three of the five batters he faced to reach base to tie the score, and then the Nationals went ahead on two infield singles off Jeremy Affeldt. With two outs and the bases loaded and the scored tied at 5-5, Nick Johnson hit a grounder that first baseman Travis Ishikawa dived to his right to knock down. Second baseman Emmanuel Burriss was behind Ishikawa, and as both players scrambled to retrieve the ball, two runners scored on the play.

But the Giants weren't done. Bengie Molina hit a solo homer, his eighth of the season, to lead off the eighth and cut the Giants' deficit to 7-6.

Then in the ninth, Burriss singled with two out and went to second on Nationals reliever Joe Beimel's errant pickoff throw to first base. After Edgar Renteria walked, Sandoval worked a 2-2 count before blasting a fastball into the left-field seats.

The Nationals started to make things interesting in the seventh, when Nick Johnson hit a three-run homer to cut the Giants' lead to 5-4. Cain also couldn't prevent Ryan Zimmerman from extending his hitting streak to 30 games. Zimmerman didn't take long to remove the intrigue, lining a single to center field in his first at-bat. His streak is the longest in the majors since Moises Alou also had a 30-game hitting streak in 2007.

But for the most part, Cain provided another solid outing before the bullpen failed to protect his lead.

One of the keys was that he pitched with a lead for every inning but the first.

Cain has received the worst run support of any pitcher in the majors since 2006, although at this rate he'll quickly relinquish that title.

Tuesday was the fifth time in seven starts the Giants have scored at least four runs while Cain has been in the game.

Not surprisingly, Randy Winn helped spark the offense.

Winn has been hitting over .400 for the past two weeks and had 7 hits in 10 at-bats in the previous two games. He kept that hot streak going with a two-run double in the first inning that helped stake Cain to an early lead.

The key at-bat in the rally was provided by Molina, who finally drew his long-awaited first walk of the season.

Molina, in his 120th plate appearance, watched a 3-1 breaking ball from Nationals right-hander Jordan Zimmerman sail low and outside. Molina paused briefly before discarding his bat and trotting to first base.

Winn lined the next pitch to the center field wall, easily scoring Edgar Renteria from second base. Third base coach Tim Flannery, somewhat surprisingly, motioned the catcher for home. Nationals second baseman Anderson Hernandez appeared to have a chance for a close play at the plate on Molina, who was laboring as he rounded third. But Hernandez instead took a shot at Winn after he took a wide turn around second base. Winn was tagged out in the subsequent rundown, but Molina scored to give the Giants a 2-0 lead.

Renteria added a two-out, two-run double in a three-run fourth that made it 5-1.

Travis Ishikawa, who continued to break out of his recent hitting funk with two more hits and had an RBI single in the fourth, scored the final run in the rally with a nice slide to get around Nationals catcher Wil Nieves. Ishikawa stretched his left leg out mid-slide to catch the back of the plate.

That figured to be plenty of support for Cain, who hasn't lost to the Nationals in three years.

Cain didn't allow a runner as far as second base until the third inning, and then he helped himself with a nice defensive play on Jordan Zimmerman's bunt. Cain fielded the ball and fired to third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who tagged out Wil Nieves, who had led off with a double.

The Nationals appeared to have a big inning brewing in the fourth, when Ryan Zimmerman lined a single to center. Then Adam Dunn hit a deep fly to right field. Nate Shierholtz battled the wind and, at the wall, tried to make a twisting catch, but the ball hit off the heel of his glove for a double. Cain struck out Austin Kearns, but Willie Harris' sacrifice fly to right cut the Giants' lead to 2-1.

Cain took a 5-1 lead into the seventh inning, but ran into trouble after allowing two-out singles to Alex Cintron and Cristian Guzman. Then Johnson lined a 2-1 fastball over the left-field wall to cut the Giants lead to 5-4.

Giants 9, Nationals 7 ?Today: vs. Washington, 12:45 p.m. ?TV/Radio: CSN/KNBR (680)