Giants 2, Dodgers 0

By JOHN NADEL
AP Sports Writer

LOS ANGELES (AP) Jason Schmidt got a little too cute for his own good in his last start. So when it came to facing the Los Angeles Dodgers, he went back to being a power pitcher.

The result was one of the finest outings of his career.

Schmidt pitched a three-hitter for his major league-leading third shutout and struck out 11 Thursday night as the San Francisco Giants beat Los Angeles 2-0 to snap the Dodgers' eight-game winning streak.

Benito Santiago and Andres Galarraga homered off Odalis Perez to give Schmidt all the offense he needed.

``It felt good tonight. I felt strong,'' said Schmidt, who retired the final 10 batters five on strikeouts. ``Last start, I didn't trust my stuff and threw a completely different ballgame than I wanted to almost like I was an 85 mph sinkerball pitcher.''

The 30-year-old right-hander allowed seven hits and four runs in six innings in a 6-1 loss at Kansas City last Friday night.

``I was upset about my last start, and we lost the first two here, so I was just fired up tonight,'' he said. ``I was aggressive and went after them trusted my stuff.''

That meant a lot of fastballs in the mid-90s.

By salvaging the finale of a three-game series, the Giants ended a three-game losing streak and moved back into sole possession of first place in the NL West one game ahead of the Dodgers.

Schmidt (6-3) threw 127 pitches 92 for strikes. The Dodgers had five baserunners singles by Dave Roberts, Brian Jordan and Cesar Izturis and two walks.

``Schmidt threw like a Cy Young pitcher,'' said Perez, who was pretty good himself, allowing five hits and two runs in seven innings.

``You have to tip your hat to Jason, he pitched awesome,'' said Paul Lo Duca, who went hitless in three at-bats with a walk to snap his 25-game hitting streak.

Lo Duca is 1-of-16 against Schmidt in his career.

``From the first at-bat, I knew he was going to be tough,'' Lo Duca said. ``He was throwing BBs. I didn't put too much pressure on myself. I'll start another (streak) tomorrow. It ain't the end of the world, believe me. I'm not that upset about it. I'm more upset that we lost. Odalis threw the ball well, but we couldn't string anything together.''

The longest hitting streak in baseball this season is 26 games by Boston's Nomar Garciaparra and Pittsburgh's Kenny Lofton. Lo Duca's streak was the longest by a Los Angeles player since Steve Sax hit in 25 straight games in 1986.

The 38-year-old Santiago hit a 2-2 pitch from Perez (4-5) over the center field fence with one out in the fourth for his 10th homer, and the 42-year-old Galarraga hit Perez's first pitch of the seventh into the left field bullpen for his fifth homer.

They were the only Giants to get past first base.

``I think the game just slowed down for those two,'' San Francisco's Ray Durham said of his elderly teammates. ``It's good, we definitely needed that.''< ^Notes:@ The game was played before a crowd of 51,047, raising the total attendance for the three-game series to 149,301. The teams play three more games in San Francisco next week. ... Barry Bonds went hitless in four at-bats, ending his streak of reaching base safely at 39 games. ... Dodgers 1B Fred McGriff sat out his fifth game because of an injured right groin. ``He might be available on a limited basis in the next day or so,'' manager Jim Tracy said. ... Giants 1B J.T. Snow missed his second game because of a strained left groin. Giants manager Felipe Alou indicated Snow won't play for several more days. ... By drawing a walk in the first, Lo Duca has reached base safely in 29 straight games.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)