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Giants 11, Padres 3

By Bernie Wilson AP Sports Writer
Tuesday June 04, 2002

SAN DIEGO – Marvin Benard had his first three-hit game of the season, including a three-run homer, then caught nothing but grief from teammate Shawon Dunston. 

Benard got the last word, though, following the San Francisco Giants’ 11-3 rout of the punchless San Diego Padres on Monday night. 

“You’re going to sleep like Tony Gwynn tonight. Be happy, Marvin,” Dunston said, comparing Benard with the retired Padres batting star. “Go ahead, enjoy it, you’re not going to play for another 10 days.” 

Benard’s retort? 

“I am going to sleep like Tony Gwynn, like a baby. I’ve been like Shawon Dunston — tossing and turning all over the place.” 

By going 3-for-6, with his first homer of the season and two doubles, Benard raised his average from .229 to .250. Dunston is hitting .135. 

Benard, who had started just nine games previously this year, got a half-hour’s notice from manager Dusty Baker that he was starting in right field and batting leadoff in place of Reggie Sanders, who had a bruised right middle finger. 

“When you don’t play every day, and all of a sudden you get a chance to start, and you know you’re starting that game, you start thinking about things,” Benard said. “And you get yourself in trouble because you overthink. 

“When things happened like they did today, there was no time to think. There was just time to go out there and react, which we should be doing all the time anyway, but it’s easier said than done.” 

Benito Santiago also hit a three-run homer for the Giants, who had a season-high 20 hits. After losing four games in which they scored a total of just five runs, the Giants have scored 20 runs in two games. 

Santiago’s homer highlighted a six-run third inning. Tsuyoshi Shinjo homered leading off the five-run eighth, and Benard went deep three batters later. Jeff Kent added an RBI double to finish 3-for-5 with three RBIs. 

The Giants batted around in the third and eighth innings. 

Every Giants starter had at least one hit and one run scored. Starting pitcher Russ Ortiz (5-4) had two hits and scored once while holding the Padres to three runs and five hits in six innings. 

The Padres kept Barry Bonds in the ballpark, but he walked and scored in the third. Bonds, who hit his 586th homer Sunday night to tie Frank Robinson for fourth on the career list, was 2-for-3 with two walks. 

The Padres have lost five straight and 14 of 18. They were coming off a weekend sweep by Milwaukee, which has the second-worst record in the majors.