ST. LOUIS -- The Giants brought their Coors Field offense to Busch Stadium on Wednesday, and Ryan Vogelsong contributed the kind of quality start that has become his trademark. It all added up to a crushing 15-0 victory over the St. Louis Cardinals, the fifth win in six games on this road trip.
Wednesday's shutout was the Giants' largest since 2000, and their most lopsided in St. Louis in the team's recorded history, which goes back to 1892.
Vogelsong sailed through seven innings, giving up just three hits. The lineup surpassed that total in the sixth inning alone, scoring five runs and bringing nine hitters to the plate in an inning for the third time on the road trip. The Giants would do it again in the four-run eighth and tack on four runs in the ninth on Marco Scutaro's grand slam.
Melky Cabrera, on a night when he recorded his majors-leading 51st multi-hit game, got the sixth-inning rally going with a hustle double at a time when the score was just 2-0. Buster Posey walked and Hunter Pence brought Cabrera home with his second RBI single of the night. Brandon Belt's second hit loaded the bases, and two runs scored when Ryan Theriot's grounder to second went right through Tyler Greene's legs.
Brandon Crawford made it 6-0 with a single to left, and Angel Pagan followed with a sacrifice fly. The Giants have scored at least five runs in an inning seven times this season, with every occasion coming on the road.
They nearly
reached that mark again two innings later. Brett Pill and Scutaro had run-scoring hits, and Cabrera added a sacrifice fly, making it 11-0. They weren't done.Theriot, Crawford and Pagan loaded the bases in the ninth, and Scutaro unloaded on a Mitchell Boggs fastball, crushing it into the left-field stands. The seven RBIs marked a career-high for Scutaro, an under-the-radar addition right before the trade deadline. It was the highest total by a Giant since May 1, 2001, when Jeff Kent also had seven.
Vogelsong entered the night with the sixth-lowest run support in the National League, and he kept the pressure on the Cardinals even as the Giants ran away with the win.
Vogelsong has pitched at least six innings in all 21 of his starts this season, and with seven shutout frames he lowered his ERA to 2.27, second-lowest in the majors behind Los Angeles Angels right-hander Jered Weaver (2.13).
- Giants vice president of baseball operations Bobby Evans confirmed a CSBSports.com report that the team and Cabrera's agent have tabled contract discussions until after the season. The two sides briefly had conceptual discussions in July. Cabrera, a pending free agent, said he likes playing in San Francisco but is focused on baseball, not his future fate.
"I'd love to stay here," he said through a translator. "But I'm not worried about anything other than helping this team win and make the playoffs. That's the main goal."
- Third baseman Pablo Sandoval ran the bases for the first time since suffering a left hamstring strain and said he didn't feel any pain. Sandoval, who also took batting practice, could be activated as soon as Sunday.
"He looks good," manager Bruce Bochy said. "He's close."
- Jose Mijares made his Giants debut in the ninth inning, giving up a hit and walking one in a scoreless frame.
The left-handed reliever was stunned that the Kansas City Royals let him go on waivers, saying he expected to be there throughout the season.
"It was surprising for me and my family," he said before Wednesday's blowout. "But this (Giants) team is really good right now. I'm excited."
Mijares has had little trouble acclimating himself to his new clubhouse. He already knows the Giants' four other Venezuelan players, and has played against Scutaro, Hector Sanchez and Gregor Blanco in the Venezuelan Winter League. Mijares played with Sandoval's brother, Michael, while making his way through the Minnesota Twins minor league system.
For more on the Giants, see Alex Pavlovic's Giants Extra blog at blogs.mercurynews.com/Giants. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/AlexPavlovic.
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