SAN FRANCISCO -- Mike Leake and the Arizona Diamondbacks gave each other something to celebrate Tuesday night.

Leake, a Trade Deadline acquisition from Seattle, earned his first D-backs victory by contributing 7 1/3 innings during a 3-2 decision over the San Francisco Giants.

The D-backs could become a more legitimate contestant in the Wild Card sweepstakes if Leake can duplicate this performance.

¡°I hope to have this one continue, have it be kind of a repetitive thing,¡± Leake said. ¡°We only have about a month left to prove ourselves, so we need more of these.¡±

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The D-backs brushed past the Giants in the Wild Card race by sweeping this two-game series. Arizona trails the Cubs by four games for the second Wild Card berth. Three teams separate the Cubs and D-backs in the Wild Card standings.

Leake struggled in his first four starts with the D-backs, compiling an 0-2 record and an 8.02 ERA. This time, however, the right-hander put together one of his better outings of the season, yielding two runs and four hits.

The victory Leake generated was the D-backs¡¯ third in a row, dissolving the bitterness of back-to-back losses at Milwaukee to begin this two-city trip. It also gave the club some momentum as it approaches a four-game home series against the National League¡¯s formidable defending champions, the Los Angeles Dodgers, beginning Thursday.

D-backs manager Torey Lovullo, conditioned to the ephemeral nature of winning and losing, planned to savor this triumph a little longer than usual.

¡°I want to enjoy this one,¡± Lovullo said. ¡°This was a nice victory for us. I don¡¯t want to turn the page too quickly. I want to feel it. I want these guys to understand what they did is special after having a tough start to this road trip. We finished on a positive note. However, at some point we get on that airplane, we have to quickly turn the page and get ready for a Dodger team that¡¯s playing its best baseball.¡±

Leake (10-10) approached his best as he retired 14 consecutive Giants between the third and eighth innings. He admitted that when he gets on a roll like that, he knows it.

¡°It¡¯s a matter of keeping myself composed and not allowing yourself to get too geeked up, which has happened to me before,¡± he said.

Leake remained in complete control through the start of the eighth inning, which he opened by retiring pinch-hitter Austin Slater on a groundout -- one of his specialties. Leake entered the game having induced 258 grounders, third-highest total in the Majors.

Trying to preserve Arizona¡¯s 3-1 lead, Leake then issued his only walk of the evening -- another specialty of his, with just 23 free passes on his ledger -- by putting Mike Yastrzemski on first base. T.J. McFarland relieved Leake and yielded Brandon Belt¡¯s RBI double before reliever Kevin Ginkel coaxed a line drive to second base. Yastrzemski was doubled off first, ending the inning.

Arizona captured the season series against the Giants, 10-9.