Sun Jun 29 19:25:32 2008

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Aurilia's five RBI power Giants in rout of A's

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Oakland, CA (Sports Network) - Rich Aurilia hit a two-run homer and matched a career-high with five RBI, as San Francisco hammered Oakland, 11-1, in the finale of a three-game interleague series.

John Bowker added two RBI for the Giants, who won the final two games of the set. Ray Durham, Bengie Molina, Aaron Rowand and Jose Castillo knocked in a run each.

Jonathan Sanchez (8-4) notched the win by limiting Oakland to one run on four hits in seven innings. He struck out six and walked one en route to his sixth win in seven starts.

Jack Cust hit his 13th homer of the season for the Athletics, who have dropped three of five overall. Joe Blanton (4-11) took the loss, charged with eight hits and seven runs in only four frames.

The Giants broke the game open with consecutive big innings.

In the fourth, Durham doubled with one out and moved to third on Randy Winn's groundout. Molina doubled in Durham then was chased home when Rowand doubled. Bowker's infield single was followed by back-to-back run-scoring singles from Aurilia and Castillo which gave the visitors control of the game.

Five more crossed the plate in the fifth on RBI doubles from Durham and Bowker and a two-run single by Aurilia.

Aurilia added a two-run homer in the seventh which put the Giants ahead 11-1, then consecutive scoreless frames from Sergio Romo and Jack Taschner iced the rout for San Francisco.

Cust smacked a solo homer in the second to put Oakland on the board, but that was a brief highlight in a contest dominated by its neighbors to the west.

Game Notes

Despite the loss, Oakland won four of the six meetings this season...Blanton has allowed 16 runs in his last 14 innings, becoming the first 11-game loser in the American League...The Giants pounded out seven extra-base hits (five doubles, triple, home run).