Chris Haft
MLB.com
The Giants certainly have looked like potential National League West contenders, though one simple fact continued to nag them Tuesday night:
They still haven't defeated the San Diego Padres, the division leaders immediately ahead of them in the standings.
Barry Zito absorbed his first defeat of the season as the Giants fell to 0-4 this season against the Padres with a 3-2 setback. Zito (5-1), who had worked at least seven innings in his previous four starts, lasted only five innings this time and allowed all of San Diego's runs.
"My timing was off tonight. I didn't have any command," said Zito, who explained that he struggled with his release point while throwing 61 strikes in 108 pitches.
Zito realized that he might be in for a rough evening when Padres leadoff batter Scott Hairston opened the game by fouling off five two-strike pitches. Hairston finally flied out to center field, but Zito needed 11 pitches to put him away.
"It was a battle the whole night," Zito said. "Start with that first at-bat."
One inning later, Zito needed one strike to escape with a scoreless frame but walked Hairston on a 3-2 pitch to load the bases. Up came David Eckstein, who rapped a two-run single. San Diego scored again off Zito in the fifth as Kyle Blanks walked and stole second base with one out before Yorvit Torrealba, who owns a .317 career average against his former Giants teammates, lined an RBI single.
Giants manager Bruce Bochy acknowledged that Zito had an "off-night" but added, "Even with that, he gave us a chance."
Zito aroused concern in his final inning when his first pitch to Oscar Salazar sailed to the backstop before his next darted high and outside. Bochy started to leave the dugout to check on Zito's physical condition, but was informed by the umpiring crew that he needed to bring a member of the athletic training staff with him to avoid being officially charged with a trip to the mound -- which would have prompted Zito's removal from the game, since pitching coach Dave Righetti had paid the left-hander a visit earlier in the inning. Zito ultimately finished the inning and wasn't ailing at all. But the sequence conveyed the lack of rhythm Zito and the Giants shared.
Giants pitchers walked a season-high 12 -- led by Zito's seven, which matched a career high. But he and four relievers, to their credit, limited San Diego to two hits in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position, accounting for the 15 Padres left on base.
"It's really amazing we stayed in that game and had a chance to win it," Bochy said. "... They left a small battalion [of baserunners] out there."
Nevertheless, the Giants remained bedeviled by San Diego, which has won eight of the teams' last 11 meetings dating back to July 2009. All but one of San Francisco's losses to the Padres this season have been one-run decisions. One hit might have reversed the outcome for the Giants in each of those games. They certainly didn't get that big knock in this one, going 2-for-11 with men in scoring position and stranding 11 runners.
The Giants have scored six runs in their four games against San Diego, which leads them in the standings by 1 1/2 games.
"If this is the way it's going to be the rest of the year, we're being tested already," Giants right-hander Sergio Romo said.
The Giants have learned what the rest of the league has begun to recognize: San Diego's bullpen is one of the NL's best, if not the best. Luke Gregerson, Heath Bell and Co. have compiled a 1.50 ERA against San Francisco this year, allowing two runs in 12 innings.
This time, San Diego's bullpen blanked the Giants for 4 1/3 innings. San Francisco nagged starter Wade LeBlanc in the third inning, when Pablo Sandoval interrupted his slump with a triple and scored on Aubrey Huff's single. Huff doubled with two outs in the fifth and scored on Juan Uribe's triple.
And that was pretty much it for the Giants. Pinch-hitter Travis Ishikawa, appearing in his first game since May 2, doubled with one out in the sixth, and Bengie Molina singled with one out in the seventh before pinch-runner Eli Whiteside stole second. But Gregerson, Mike Adams and Bell retired eight of San Francisco's final nine hitters to settle matters.
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