Santiago, Bonds Step Up

When 37-year-old catcher Benito Santiago landed on second base for the third time Monday, he smiled and pointed toward the San Francisco Giant dugout. Manager Dusty Baker pointed back.

Santiago had three doubles and drove in four runs, Reggie Sanders had a two-run homer and Barry Bonds hit a solo homer, and the Giants defeated the Arizona Diamondbacks, 7-3, at San Francisco.

“I just pointed to Dusty and the whole group to say, ‘See? We’re doing great,’” Santiago said.

Santiago’s three-run double helped the Giants end a three-game losing streak and move within one game of the defending World Series-champion Diamondbacks in the National League West.

“I was excited,” Baker said about returning the gesture. “We all were. We needed those runs.

“How many times have we not driven in those runs?”

Santiago went three for four, extending his hitting streak to 12 games. He is batting .420 during the run. His three doubles matches a franchise record, last reached by catcher Doug Mirabelli on June 24, 2000.

The game attracted 42,005, the largest crowd ever at Pacific Bell Park, and Bonds treated them with a fifth-inning homer, his 585th, putting him within one of Frank Robinson for fourth on the career list.

Bonds has 18 home runs this season to match Chicago’s Sammy Sosa for the major-league lead. He has homered in six of his last 10 games.

Pittsburgh 3, Chicago 2--Keith Osik’s first pinch hit this season drove in Jack Wilson from third base with the winning run against Antonio Alfonseca in the 10th inning at Pittsburgh.

Cub right-hander Mark Prior, the No. 2 pick in last year’s draft out of USC, struck out seven and gave up one run and three hits in six innings. He was clocked as high as 99 mph.

Pirate left-hander Dave Williams (3-5)--in danger of being demoted to the minors--shut out the Cubs on three hits in 5 2/3 innings.

Williams had given up 19 earned runs in 20 2/3 innings over five consecutive winless starts.

St. Louis 4, Houston 3--Tino Martinez hit a two-run homer against Roy Oswalt in the eighth inning at Houston and the Cardinals won for the eighth time in nine games.

Lance Berkman homered twice for the Astros, including a two-run drive in the eighth that pulled Houston within one run. He has 17 home runs.

Atlanta 5, Montreal 1--Tom Glavine pitched a five-hitter and Rafael Furcal drove in two runs at Atlanta.

Glavine (8-2) extended his scoreless streak against the Expos to 32 innings before Jose Vidro hit a solo home run with one out in the ninth to extend his hitting streak to 21 games.

Glavine struck out eight, walked none and lowered his earned-run average to a major league-leading 1.59.

Florida 5, New York 3--Luis Castillo extended his hitting streak to 15 games with two run-scoring singles and had two of the Marlins’ seven stolen bases at New York.

All the steals came against Mike Piazza, who has thrown out only four runners in 43 attempts.

San Diego 8, Colorado 5--Ryan Klesko homered and drove in two runs for the host Padres, who took advantage of another meltdown by Mike Hampton.

Hampton (2-6), baseball’s highest-paid pitcher with a $121-million, eight-year contract, had a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning, but gave up three runs each in the bottom of the fourth and fifth and seven hits and four walks.

The left-hander gave up six runs and nine hits in 4 2/3 innings, and walked five for the fourth consecutive game.