After starting the season 0-8, Barry Zito finally earned his first victory with an 8-2 win over the Marlins. Several Giants hitters also showed off their power, hitting three homeruns against Florida’s pitching staff. San Francisco now has a three-game winning streak going, after bad homestand.
A first inning run suggested Zito would pitch like he had been this season, but he overcame it and retired thirteen of the next fifteen hitters he faced. He got the monkey off his back, and hopefully he’ll be able to earn some wins more frequently now. Overall, in six and a third innings pitched, he allowed that one first inning run on three hits, and four walks. On the other hand, he did manage to strike out five Marlins batters. Keiichi Yabu finished off the seventh inning, and Jack Taschner pitched a perfect eighth inning. Vinnie Chulk allowed one hit in the ninth inning, a solo homer to Florida’s second baseman, Dan Uggla, but by then the Giants had a comfortable lead and had nothing to worry about.
Giants hitters jumped all over Florida starter Scott Olsen, forcing him to leave the game in the fourth inning after scoring seven runs off him. Bengie Molina and Aaron Rowand hit back-to-back shots off Olsen in the fourth inning, ending his day. Jose Castillo added the eighth Giants run in the eighth inning with a solo homerun of his own to give San Francisco a commanding 8-1 lead. The middle of the lineup drove the Giants offense, the three-four-five hitters went seven-for-twelve, scoring six of the eight runs, and producing five of them. Rich Aurilia also added two doubles out of the seventh spot in the lineup.
This afternoon the Giants will start Matt Cain against Florida’s Burke Badenhop. The game is set to begin at 4:10 p.m. Cain was roughed up in his last start, and has been inconsistent so far this season, but if the offense continues to produce like it has in the last two games, he should have a good shot at extending the winning streak to four games.
