When Saturday's game between the Detroit Tigers and San Francisco Giants began, the question was how will Barry Zito hold up on short rest against this dangerous Tigers offense. But after the first inning it became how many runs can the Giants really score? And with the aid of three Giants home runs the answer to that question was 15, rocking Max Scherzer and the Tigers 15-2 at Comerica Park this evening.
Pablo Sandoval began the night right with a two run jack in the first, extending his hit streak to 14 straight. Brandon Crawford followed suit a few batters later for a three-run bomb, handing Barry Ztio an early 5-0 lead. Cody Ross added an RBI double in the third to make it 6-0, then the heaven's opened up about two and a half hours of rain before the game could resume. Max Scherzer (L 9-4) would not continue.
Miguel Tejada picked right up where the team left off, blasting a Grand Slam off of Brayan Villarreal almost immediately after the delay ended to make it 10-0. It was the first salami he's hit since 2008 and the 12th of his career. Aubrey Huff, Eli Whiteside, and Andres Torres added RBI's in the fifth and sixth innings to reach the season high 15 runs. Every Giants player in the lineup got a hit tonight, save for replacements Bill Hall and Andres Torres.
Barry Zito (W 2-1) showed true grit in his outing this evening, fighting through the elongated rain delay as well as pitching on short rest to put up six zeros on the potent Tigers, allowing only five hits, two walks, and one punch out. Even after the delay Zito was sharp, especially his curveball which was on point throughout the night.
Jhonny Peralta and Brandon Boesch hit back-to-back jacks off Guillermo Mota in the seventh, the only runs the Tigers would score all night. Mota got his first save of the year for his three innings of work.
With the win the Giants move to 48-36 on the year. Full box score can be found here.
San Francisco will send Ryan Vogelsong (6-1 2.09 ERA) out Sunday to take on Rick Porcello (6-6 5.06 ERA) for the Tigers. First pitch is set for 10:05 a.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
For more on the Black and Orange, head over to McCovey Chronicles.