Giants Rally Past Brewers

The San Francisco Giants are making it a habit of coming from behind to win.

After spotting the Milwaukee Brewers four runs on three hits in the first inning, Kirk Rueter allowed just one more hit in his six innings and the Giants defeated the Brewers 6-4 Saturday.

"You never want to get behind early," said Giants shortstop Rich Aurilia, who went 4-for-4. "But there's no sense of urgency. We've been able to come back before, so we're confident we can do it again."

The Giants have come from behind in 11 of their 19 victories this season, and have 102 such wins since the beginning of 1997.

"The guys are just playing," Giants manager Dusty Baker said, "doing what you need to do to win. We just had to go to work."

Rueter (2-1) allowed four runs, only one of them earned. He pitched at least six innings for the third consecutive start after not doing so in his first four starts.

"I just tried to keep them right there and give our guys a chance to get back in it," Rueter said.

Robb Nen pitched a scoreless ninth for his 11th save.

Ellis Burks led off the Giants sixth with a home run, tying it at 4 against Steve Woodard (2-3). Charlie Hayes singled to put San Francisco ahead and Brent Mayne added an RBI single later in the inning.

"The first inning is not going to beat us," Hayes said. "We've just got to keep hacking away."

Woodard allowed all six runs on 12 hits.

"I didn't feel comfortable the whole day," said Woodard. "I got behind on a lot of hitters and left a lot of pitches up."

Sean Berry doubled in two runs and Bobby Hughes singled in a pair of runs as Milwaukee scored four times in the first inning. Hayes' error at third base on Mark Loretta's grounder opened the way for three unearned runs.

Rueter then retired 15 of the final 18 batters he faced.
"He keeps coming at you," Berry said. "We got a couple of big hits in the first inning and the next inning he comes at you with the same stuff. He keeps throwing strikes and working fast."

Jeff Kent drove itwo runs and Armando Rios had an RBI as the Giants closed to within 4-3 with three runs in the third.

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