The Giants claimed an improbable and important series win in the late-afternoon haze at Dodger Stadium, beating their archrivals with a thousand little cuts to claim a 7-5 victory in 13 innings on Sunday. Randy Winn delivered a tiebreaking, two-run single as the weary Giants took two of three against a first-place club and finished a demanding, seven-game road trip with a winning record.

"This is one of those exhausting wins," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "This is a good road trip, a grinding trip. You've got to be proud of them."

Bochy's teeth must have been grinding, too. Through 12 innings, the Giants were 3-for-18 with runners in scoring position and had stranded 13 men. At that point, they had scored eight runs in the series on five sacrifice flies, a bases-loaded walk, an infield dribbler and a clean single by Emmanuel Burriss.

This is what passes for offensive firepower.

"You know what? We scratch for runs," Bochy said. "We know it. We have to. Even Timmy (Lincecum) gets a sac fly. But we're creating opportunities and that's what it takes."

It also took seven stout innings of relief following Lincecum's exit. Brandon Medders, Jeremy Affeldt, Merkin Valdez, Bob Howry and Brian Wilson combined to allow one run. That came in the 12th when Casey Blake hit a solo homer off Wilson, equalizing Rich Aurilia's sacrifice fly in the top of the inning.

It took a game-saving catch from center fielder Aaron Rowand, who made a do-or-die sprawl to snag Juan Pierre's would-be gapper with two outs in the ninth inning. Blake was running on contact from first base and likely would have scored.

"Juan had been splitting the defense every time, so we crowded him a little bit," Rowand said of Pierre, who replaced the suspended Manny Ramirez in this series and reached base in 10 of 15 plate appearances. "Luckily, it was just within reach."

And it took a whole lot of small ball. Would you believe the Giants' run-starved offense leads the league in at least one category? Their 37 infield singles are the most in the National League.

They had four on Sunday, including one generous scoring call. With one out in the 13th, Steve Holm was credited with a single when his apparent double-play grounder to Rafael Furcal stuck in the shortstop's glove. Winn followed with the game winner, a line drive down the left-field line.

Winn had four hits, reached base five times and appears to be coming out of a deep funk. He logged innings at all three outfield positions, too.

Bochy used all his position players in the four-hour, 44-minute marathon, and in the process, the Giants bucked a season-long trend. They had been 13-0 when they scored first and 2-14 when they do not.

The Dodgers are 22-11, they still hold a 4 1/2-game lead and remain the team to beat in the NL West. But it's notable that they've won seven of nine series against division opponents and the Giants are responsible for both losses.

"It's been a long time since we've won an important game like that," said Aurilia, the last link to the Bonds era. "We haven't been in the mix of things the last few years. So to be on the road and win a game like that against a first-place team? And to do it in extra innings? That's a great, great win for us."

Contact Andrew Baggarly at abaggarly@mercurynews.com.Giants 7,Dodgers 5TODAY: Nationals (Daniel Cabrera 0-3) at Giants (Randy Johnson 2-3), 7:15 p.m. TV: CSNBA. Radio: 680-AMINSIDE Hot-hitting Emmanuel Burriss might bat leadoff. Page 5