Giants: After activating reliever Guillermo Mota, San Francisco scores twice in the ninth to tip Houston 3-2.

On the field, S.F. scores twice in 9th for victory

HOUSTON — On his first day with the team since May 6, Guillermo Mota was surrounded by a handful of reporters in the Giants’ dugout when Matt Cain walked by him. Cain: “Your first interview, huh?” Mota: “I know. I feel like you now. I feel like I threw a perfect game.” Not quite. Mota was answering questions about his 100game drug suspension as Cain was preparing to face the Astros for the second time since his perfect game June 13. That day, Mota was in Los Angeles to have his appeal heard, unsuccessfully.

“I think I was more tired than he was,” Mota said.

Cain lasted into the eighth inning of Tuesday’s 3-2 Giants victory that was decided in the ninth by a rare flurry of pinch-hit conquests, and Mota did not appear. He was activated after completing his suspension for testing positive for clenbute-

rol, a stimulant and banned substance in Major League Baseball’s joint drug policy.

He told reporters what he told MLB, that the positive was a result of children’s cough medicine, which he said belonged to his daughter and he took because he had bronchitis. Mota and manager Bruce Bochy said MLB was persuaded Mota’s story was accurate.

Given that, Mota was asked if he was disappointed the appeal was denied. “No, because they have their rule, and a rule is a rule.”

He added, “I did not read the label. It was a mistake.”

There was some debate over whether the Giants would bring back Mota, 39, in the aftermath of Melky Cabrera’s 50-game suspension for testosterone. Bochy had said it would be a baseball decision (not a PR decision), and it was.

With a struggling bullpen (5.91 ERA over 13 games) and Jeremy Affeldt going on paternity leave (his wife, Larissa, was expecting the couple’s third child), the Giants needed Mota.

“While we don’t endorse these guys who are taking PEDs, we also want to be known for being an organization that cares about the person as a whole, not just the player,” Bochy said. “He served his time. Now it’s time for all of us to move on.”

The Giants moved on by improving to a majors-best 15-5 road record since the All-Star break. It was a pitching-anddefense duel involving Cain and Novato’s Bud Norris, and featuring ample glove work.

Each team scored in the fifth inning — homers by Angel Pagan and Fernando Martinez — and the Astros went ahead in the eighth when Jimmy Paredes scored on Cain’s wild pitch, a 3-2 curve to Tyler Greene.

In the ninth, Brandon Belt singled and scored on pinchhitter Joaquin Arias’ double, and pinch-hitter Hector Sanchez’s broken-bat single scored Arias. The Giants had been hitting .177 (25-for-141) in the pinch, the lowest average in the majors.

Santiago Casilla (5-5) escaped a first-and-third, one-out situation in the eighth, and Sergio Romo tossed a perfect ninth for his seventh save.

Mota is a two-time PED offender — he acknowledged that the first offense in 2007 was for steroids — and a third would trigger a lifetime ban.

What would he say to Giants fans?

“I wasn’t suspended for steroids. I wasn’t taking steroids. That’s one thing,” he said. “Second thing, I appreciate what they do for me. They support me. They’re great fans. I can see that every game. They’re good fans. They support the Giants. They support me. I want to say thank you for everything.”