At least for the time being, Aubrey Huff is no longer the Giants' cleanup hitter. But it didn't stop him from doing some impressive base-cleaning Friday night in his new spot in the order.
Hitting fifth for the first time this year, Huff reached base all four times and stroked a two-run double as part of a three-run fifth-inning rally that sent the Giants to a 5-2 victory over Colorado at AT&T Park.
"It's just kind of a weird coincidence, get bumped down to five and get some hits," said Huff, who had hit cleanup in 20 of the team's first 21 games. "But I think it's all about the adjustment I made in batting practice today."
Huff said he purposely stopped trying to pull the ball so much and worked in pregame at going with the pitch to the opposite field.
"Tonight I just really tried to stay back and let the ball travel, use left-center field and left field," he said. "During BP, I just worked on hitting exclusively to left. I didn't really pull anything. I think I let it get into my head about trying to pull too much here. I probably wasted 40 at-bats doing that."
Beyond Huff, there were multiple contributors to a victory that proved a significant salve to Wednesday's ugly late-inning defeat against Philadelphia. Barry Zito delivered another strong eight-inning performance, and in the wake of closer Brian Wilson's sudden unavailability because of a pregame injury, Sergio Romo and Jeremy Affeldt combined to pitch a scoreless ninth. It didn't completely erase the memory of the Philly flop, but it did much to put the pain of it to rest. "It's big that you do bounce back from a tough loss like that," said manager Bruce Bochy. "Sometimes it can linger if you let it." The Giants came up with the perfect formula: Zito and run support, which have always been a potent combination. The left-hander now boasts a phenomenal career mark of 107-6 (22-2 as a Giant) when he gets four or more runs of support, and this latest performance ran his record to 4-0 in April. "I don't think April's gone like this for me ever, so it feels good," said Zito, who wasn't quite as sharp as his previous two outings but still plenty effective enough. He threw 119 pitches, walked three and struck out five. He not only finished the month with five consecutive strong outings but also didn't surrender a home run in any of them. That is a career first for the opening month.
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