After taking a quick 3-0 lead in the second and final game of the short series with Arizona, Giants starter Barry Zito ran into some trouble, and allowed the D-backs to get back into the game. Ultimately, the Giants fell short of a comeback and lost 5-4.
Zito is still looking for his first win this season, in last night’s game he allowed five runs before being taken out during the fourth inning. He struggled with his command, walking three batters and appeared to be uncomfortable with using his trademark curveball. Despite Zito’s struggles, the bullpen was perfect, shutting down the opposition for over four innings. Keiichi Yabu, Vinnie Chulk, and Tyler Walker were superb to keep the Giants within comeback range. Walker struck out all three batters he faced in the eighth inning. However, the D-backs bullpen was nearly as perfect too.
The offense jumped out quickly against Arizona ace Brandon Webb to finally give Zito some run support. Fred Lewis and Ray Durham led off the game with singles, and Lewis scored the game’s first run on a sacrifice fly by Randy Winn. The next inning, Brian Bocock led off the inning with a single and was sacrificed to second. Lewis then drove him in with a single, who was then driven in by Randy Winn again. From then on, Webb was on his game and the Giants were unable to generate any more offense until Lewis was involved in driving in Emmanuel Burriss with a double off D-backs reliever Tony Pena.
From Arizona, the Giants will head to San Diego to take on the Padres in another two game series before returning home to host the Cincinnati Reds. Tonight Matt Cain, who will be coming off his worst career start will face Padres veteran Greg Maddux in a 7:05 p.m. start.
