SAN FRANCISCO – Starting suits Bill Swift just fine, and so does the National League.
“Today was Bill Swift Day, I’ll tell you,” San Franciso manager Roger Craig said after the converted reliever pitched a second straight complete game and doubled and scored twice in the Giants’ 6-1 victory Thursday over the San Diego Padres. “I heard when we made the deal for Swift that he was a pretty good hitter, could field his position and could pitch a little bit. We saw it all today.”
Swift (3-0), who has all but one of San Francisco’s wins, was obtained from Seattle as part of the trade that sent slugger Kevin Mitchell and pitcher Mike Remlinger to the Mariners. The Giants also received Dave Burba, now their No. 5 starter, and reliever Mike Jackson.
“I really wanted to come out and do well,” Swift said, conscious of the scrutiny the deal generated. “The trade I think is going to be good for both teams. Kevin is going to do well for them and I think we’ve picked up the slack for him.”
Swift allowed eight hits, struck out three and walked none in bringing his ERA to 0.70 while helping stop San Francisco’s three-game losing streak. In his previous start, Swift pitched a six-hit shutout against Atlanta.
San Diego’s five-game winning streak came to an end as Dave Eiland (0-1) gave up four runs and eight hits in 5 1-3 innings. Among the hits Eiland surrendered was an RBI double by Swift in the fifth that broke a 1-1 tie.
“If I get him out, it’s a whole new ballgame,” Eiland said. “I was down with a 1-0 count, and I didn’t want to go 2-0. I threw him a batting practice fastball. I should have beared down more on the pitch. I can’t just lay it in there.”
Swift entered college as an outfielder before switching to pitching full time and had no at-bats in five years in the American League. But he said he always had a pretty good swing.
“I was just seeing the ball really well,” Swift said. “It’s not easy, but it’s nice to get things going. If I can get the guys fired up, that’s good for me.”
The transition from reliever to starter also has gone exceptionally well for Swift, whose 71 appearances for Seattle last season all came in relief.
“My arm has recovered really well between starts,” he said. “I came up as a starter and now I’ve developed enough pitches where I can do that. I think anybody can make the transition.”
Eiland, a former Yankee who hit a two-run homer in his first NL at bat, went 0-2 against Swift.
“He has great stuff. He’s going to be one of the better pitchers in the league,” Eiland said.
San Diego’s Tony Gwynn, a four-time NL batting champion, agreed.
“He’s not your normal sinker-ball pitcher,” Gwynn said. “He’s got incredible movement on his sinker. It goes down and in, down and away – you don’t know where it’s going to sink. He’s got the movement like Orel (Hershiser) had in his big year (in 1988).”
Will Clark tripled in the sixth inning for his 999th career hit as the Giants ended a three-game losing streak.
With the score tied at 1 in the fifth, Swift hit an RBI double with two outs and Darren Lewis followed with an RBI single. Cory Snyder’s run-scoring single made it 4-1 in the sixth.
Willie McGee hit a sacrifice fly in the seventh to score Swift, who had doubled, and Royce Clayton had a run-scoring single in the eighth.
Kurt Stillwell’s RBI single put San Diego ahead in the second, but the Giants tied the score in the fourth on Matt Williams’ run-scoring, double-play grounder.
Notes: San Diego’s Gary Sheffield, whose 11 RBIs leads the majors, was given the day off.
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