SAN DIEGO -- Ideally, Rod Beck would have blown through the first three batters of the ninth inning to end the game with Barry Bonds standing in the on-deck circle.
Instead Beck got himself in trouble, struck out Bonds with two runners on, then closed out the San Diego Padres' 5-2 win over Jason Schmidt and the San Francisco Giants on Saturday night.
"He is the best player," Beck said of Bonds, his former teammate with the Giants for half of the 1990s. "You're asking for a lot of trouble if you get in the situation I just did, but fortunately I got out of it."
After striking out Bonds on a split-fingered fastball, Beck got Jose Cruz Jr. to ground out to first baseman Ryan Klesko. Beck, standing near first base, thrust his arms in the air.
Brian Buchanan went 3-for-4 with two RBI against Schmidt, baseball's hottest pitcher, and Kevin Jarvis won for the first time in more than a year.
The last-place Padres scored four runs on seven hits off Schmidt and beat the NL West-leading Giants for just the second time in eight games this year.
Schmidt (8-4), the likely NL starter for the All-Star game, had allowed just one earned run in throwing three straight complete games coming in, and his 2.14 ERA was the best in the majors. He did strike out nine in seven innings.
Jarvis (1-2) pitched into the eighth for his first win in more than a year. Jarvis, who went 7 1/3 innings, held the Giants to two runs and three hits in his fifth start of the season. He spent more than two months on the disabled list while continuing his recovering from elbow surgery in July 2002.
Beck got his seventh save in as many chances.
"In that situation, a three-run lead, you've got to go after them," Beck said. "You don't want to start walking guys, and then you're in a lot of trouble." He allowed a leadoff single to Ray Durham and a one-out hit to Marquis Grissom.
Beck started off Bonds with two fastballs on the outside corner for strikes.
"Fortunately I was able to get a couple calls on Barry. They were strikes, but they were about as perfect a pitch as you could possibly make," Beck said. "Ultimately I got him out with a split-finger. The pitches in between were just meant to set it up."
Bonds refused to talk to reporters afterward.
Beck "made some smart pitches there," Giants manager Felipe Alou said. "His stuff may be different, but his mind is the same."
Buchanan, a utilityman starting in left field in place of Rondell White, tripled in the tying run in the fourth inning, then singled in the go-ahead run during the two-run sixth.
With the score tied at 2, Mark Loretta singled leading off the sixth. Schmidt retired Ryan Klesko and Sean Burroughs, but then walked Gary Matthews Jr. Buchanan singled to left to score Loretta and rookie Miguel Ojeda followed with another single to left to score Matthews, who easily beat the throw from Bonds.
"Out of the seven hits, probably two or three were on pitches I wanted to make," Schmidt said. "The rest came on bad pitches due to lack of command. I kind of overthrew and wore myself out."
Ojeda homered with two outs in the eighth off Jason Christiansen, his second.
In the fourth, Buchanan's fly ball got past diving center fielder Marquis Grissom for a triple. Bonds didn't back up the play and Burroughs scored from second as the ball rolled almost to the warning track.
The Padres loaded the bases against Schmidt with none out in the second inning and got just one run out of it. After Burroughs and Matthews singled, Buchanan had a base hit to left, but third base coach Rob Picciolo held up Burroughs even though he probably could have beaten a throw from Bonds.
Burroughs scored to make it 1-0 as Ojeda hit into a double play and Donaldo Mendez struck out.
The Giants went ahead when Rich Aurilia hit a two-run double to right-center with two outs in the fourth.
Jarvis hadn't won since beating Pittsburgh 3-0 on May 4, 2002.
Notes: Giants C Benito Santiago said he expects to miss four-to-five days after dislocating his left pinky finger while sliding headfirst into third base on Friday. As he lay on the ground after getting hurt, Santiago popped his finger back in place. "I was thinking, 'I don't want to go on the disabled list,"' Santiago said. Yorvit Torrealba, who replaced Santiago on Friday, started against the Padres on Saturday night. ... It was just the second career triple for Buchanan, who's 6-foot-4, 230 pounds.
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