KANSAS CITY — The San Francisco Giants were able to capture a win over the Kansas City Royals on Friday, June 20, 2008.   The Giants defeated the Royals, 9-4.   Leading the Giants to victory were second baseman Ray Durham and short stop Omar Vizquel, who both scored two runs apiece in the game.   Durham also had 3 hits and 3 RBI’s in the game.   He also managed to steal a base in the game.   Several Giants players got their team’s offense off to a great start.   Randy Winn, Aaron Rowand, Rich Aurilia and Jose Castillo all had 2 hits apiece in the game.   Winn also scored 2 RBI’s as well.   Leading the Royals in scoring were David DeJesus who had 2 runs and 1 hit in the game.   While Jose Guillen had 1 hit, 1 run and 2 RBI’s.  

          The Giants had a total of 14 hits compared to the Royals who only had 7 hits in the game.   Kansas City got the game off to a strong start scoring 3 runs in the 1st inning alone.   The team seemed to fizzle afterwards after scoring an additional run in the 3rd inning.   They weren’t able to get their offense back on track.   It took the Giants a while to get their offense going, but once it got going it was difficult for the Royals to stop them.   The team scored their first 2 runs in the 4th inning.   Thanks to the help of Bengie Molina, they were able to tie the game 4-4 by the end of the 5th.

          Jose Castillo really got the Giants pumped after an edge of your seat slide into 1st base during the 6th inning.   Castillo had stepped up to the plate with 2 outs. Castillo hit the ball to the left and fled towards first base.   He dove headfirst into home base, reaching the base just seconds before the ball was caught.   The Giants scored 4 additional runs in the sixth putting them ahead of the Royals 8-4.  

          San Francisco pitcher Matt Cain performed well in the game only giving up 4 runs and 5 hits during the eight innings he played.   He struck out 8 players during the game.   While Kansas City pitcher Luke Hochevar gave up 9 hits and 4 runs in the 5 innings he played.   Currently the Giants are tied for 3rd place with the San Diego Padres in the NL West.