Since his return from the DL San Francisco Giants pitcher Barry Ztio has been absolutely lights out, and Thursday night was no different against the San Diego Padres. Eli Whiteside homered, Pablo Sandoval extended his hitting streak to 18 straight games, and the Giants topped the Pads by a score of 2-1 at AT&T Park.
Zito (W 3-1) was brilliant in his eight innings of work, allowing only one earned run on four hits, while walking only one Padre and striking out seven of them. The lone blemish for the night was a Ryan Ludwick home run in the seventh, but besides that Zito was untouchable. His curve was on point, making his fastball look much harder for batters to catch up to, showing some of his Cy Young form from back when he was with the Oakland A's. It marked Zito's third straight win in a row. Brian Wilson earned his 25th save of the season with his one hit scoreless ninth inning.
Eli Whiteside's homer in the third started the Giants off on the right foot, his third of the year, followed by an RBI single by Pat Burrell in the sixth to give the Giants the lead they needed. Miguel Tejada kept his hot streak going, going 2-3 with a double, while Pablo Sandoval's single in the sixth extended his hitting streak to 18 straight games now.
Padres starter Cory Luebke (L 2-3) lasted for six innings tonight, allowing both Giants runs on five hits, along with one walk and eight punch outs.
With the win the Giants move to 50-39 on the year. Full box score can be found here,
San Francisco will now host the New York Mets starting Friday as Ryan Vogelsong (6-1 2.13 ERA) will take the mound to take on R.A. Dickey (4-7 3.68 ERA) for the Mets. First pitch is set for 7:15 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area, MLB Network, and KNBR 680 AM.
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