It was a great night for some Bay Area baseball at the Oakland Coliseum as the San Francisco Giants topped the Oakland A’s for the second night in a row with a 4-1 victory. The Giants now lead the Bay Bridge exhibition series 2-1 as well as a 3-2 record over the A’s this preseason.
Barry Zito had a good outing this evening as he went for 5 2/3 innings while allowing only one run on 4 hits. His 4 strikeouts were matched with 4 four walks, but all in all Barry was looking good, especially with his sweet mustache. CSN Bay Area’s Jaymee Sire tweeted this about his new look:
Asked Zito if mustache was staying for season & he said he’s “just living for tomorrow.”
Classic Zito.
As for the relievers tonight Ramon Ramirez, Dan Runzler, and Guillermo Mota combined for 3 innings of scoreless work with Mota getting the save in the 9th.
Pablo Sandoval had a great game for the Giants tonight with an RBI double in the 2nd and a groundout in the 7th that scored Mark DeRosa. Mike Fontenot follwed suit in the 7th with an RBI single, but the big hit of the night came off the bat of Nate Schierholtz, as he launched a moon shot to center field in the 8th. Brandon Belt went 1-3 with a single.
In other Giants news, the team has decided to part ways with veteran pitcher Jeff Suppan as he will try to join on with another major league team instead of pitching for the Grizzlies in AAA Fresno. Skipper Bruce Bochy noted that there was nowhere he could really fit in the Giants rotation or bullpen and will try his luck elsewhere for the 2011 season. As for minor league sensation Brandon Belt, the San Jose Mercury News’ Tim Kawakami recently interviewed Bruce Bochy about the situation, and will still not officially deny or confirm whether Belt will be with the Giants on opening day or not. Great interview, definitely worth a read.
The Giants will head back to AT&T tomorrow afternoon to close their exhibition series with their bay area rivals the Oakland A’s. First pitch is scheduled for 12:45 tomorrow with Madison Bumgarner getting the start for the Giants and Dallas Braden for the A’s.