Giants' Zito shuts down Padres 2-0

Andrew Baggarly - MercuryNews

It's hard to generate pregame hype for the two worst teams in the National League West, so the TV promos billed Saturday night's game as a battle of former Cy Young Award winners.

It didn't matter that one of them, Barry Zito, is six years and roughly six mph removed from his trophy season.

But this time, Zito lived up to the billing.

He pitched eight shutout innings to outperform San Diego's Jake Peavy, and the Giants beat Padres 2-0 at Petco Park.

Zito (6-13) probably didn't have his best stuff of the season - his 10-strikeout game against the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 5 might rank a little higher - but he attacked the strike zone and seldom pitched from behind in the count against a depleted Padres lineup.

He allowed three hits to tie a season low. It was his longest outing without yielding a run since Aug. 21, 2004, when he tossed eight scoreless against Tampa Bay.

Bengie Molina's single broke a scoreless tie in the seventh inning. Emmanuel Burriss padded the lead in the ninth when he singled home Rich Aurilia, who had entered as a defensive replacement.

Brian Wilson struck out one in a stress-free ninth inning to record his National League-best 30th save and his 21st in a row. With two months to play, Wilson could challenge Rod Beck's franchise record of 48 in a season. No Giants pitcher had reached the 30-save mark since Tim Worrell in 2003.

Giants Manager Bruce Bochy pinch-hit for Zito in the ninth, knowing he had Wilson to finish the game. Zito hasn't thrown a complete game since 2003, let alone a shutout, and was at 116 pitches through eight innings.

But he had a stressful time preserving a one-run lead in the eighth.

Bochy came out for a visit after Zito issued a two-out walk to put runners at first and second base for Adrian Gonzalez, the Padres' lone All-Star. Left-hander Jack Taschner was warm in the bullpen, but he had allowed a tying homer to Gonzalez the previous night.

So Bochy gave Zito a pat on the back and walked back to the dugout. It only took one well-placed 85 mph sinker on the inside corner to get out of the inning. Gonzalez hit a slow roller to second base.

Zito's start against Peavy marked the sixth time he had opposed a former Cy Young winner this year. He has faced Brandon Webb twice, Randy Johnson twice and Pedro Martinez once.

He was 0-4 in those starts. And this time, Zito's Cy Young opponent didn't have any dust on his trophy. Peavy won the award last season.

Bochy's club has been aggressive on the basepaths in the series, trying to exploit a Padres catching crew that hasn't nabbed many suspects on the run. But through the fifth inning, the Giants had been tagged out on all four of their steal attempts against the Padres.

That changed in the seventh after Fred Lewis punched his single through the left side. He swiped second base just ahead of the tag, and showed off his speed again when he scored from second base on Molina's single.

It was an example of what differentiates the two worst teams in the NL West. While the Padres have a bit more power than the Giants, they are, to put it mildly, an unathletic team.

The Padres had one stolen base as a team in July - and that belonged to 42-year-old pitcher Greg Maddux.

Their station-to-station game hurt them in the 10th inning Friday, when they had three consecutive singles and failed to score. And it cropped up again in the sixth inning Saturday, after third baseman Jose Castillo's error created a jam for Zito.

Scott Hairston could only advance two bases on Brian Giles' two-out double to deep right field. After an intentional walk to Gonzalez loaded the bases, Kevin Kouzmanoff swung at Zito's first pitch and hit a sky-high out to right.

It was a pressure pitch for Zito, who had retired 14 of 15 batters before Castillo's error. The only batter to reach over that stretch, Hairston, had drawn a walk and was erased on a double-play grounder.

Predictably, the Giants had their problems with Peavy - and bad decisions on the basepaths didn't help. Burriss was thrown out trying to go from first to third on Zito's sacrifice in the third inning. And it's likely that someone missed a sign in the fifth, when Castillo took a called third strike and John Bowker was thrown out trying to steal.

Burriss made a positive impact with the glove, though. A day after Giants officials said that Burriss could become one of the best defensive second basemen in the game, the rookie made them look smart by snagging Tadahito Iguchi's line drive in the first inning.

In the third, Iguchi hit a double-play grounder that shortstop Ivan Ochoa bobbled. Burriss made a barehand catch of Ochoa's late feed, and with Hairston bearing down on him, sidearmed a strong throw in time to turn two.