Giants 12, Rockies 5
Pablo Sandoval homered twice, knocking in four, in the fourth inning as the visiting San Francisco Giants scored eight runs and cruised past the Colorado Rockies 12-5 on Sunday for their season-high eighth straight win.
The victory pulled the Giants within four games of the Atlanta Braves in the National League wild-card race, and they stayed five games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West.
Sandoval, who also had a triple, had two of the four home runs for San Francisco in the fourth. Brandon Belt and winning pitcher Matt Cain also went deep. It was the first time the Giants had four homers in an inning since 1961.
Cain (12-10) allowed five hits and five runs – three earned – in five innings. It was his fifth career homer and first since 2008.
Giants’ closer Brian Wilson pitched for the first time since Aug. 15, striking out two in a perfect eighth inning. He had been out with elbow inflammation.
It was the first four-game sweep for the Giants at Coors Field since Aug. 26-29, 2002.
The Rockies have lost five of their last six games. Colorado starter Esmil Rogers (6-6), who gave up four of San Francisco’s six homers, is 0-5 since Aug. 9.