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Zito breaks out of rut as Giants beat Rockies

Apr 17, 2007 - 5:01 AM DENVER (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants paid a lot of money for Barry Zito in the offseason. On Monday, he started to earn it.

Zito pitched six strong innings and Omar Vizquel had four hits as the Giants pounded the Colorado Rockies, 8-0, at Coors Field.

Zito (1-2), who signed a seven-year, $126 million contract over the winter, yielded just three hits and walked three in six scoreless innings to pick up his first win for San Francisco.

"The ball was down today, that was the key and I was more relaxed," Zito said. "It was good today to get back to my old self."

The lefthander had taken losses in his first two starts while allowing 11 runs - 10 earned - and 13 hits in 11 innings. He ran into trouble in the fifth inning, allowing a leadoff single and walking two, but worked out of the bases-loaded jam by striking out Jamey Carroll to end the frame.

"I've always said it's not about a ballpark for me or pitching against a certain team, it's about if you catch me on a good day it's a good day, regardless," Zito said. "I just have to keep my consistency out there."

"It's not an easy park to pitch in and he had good stuff," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said, "good command and he used all of his pitches well tonight, it was a great effort by him."

Vizquel scored two runs and drove in a pair in his first four-hit game since July 31, 2006. Ray Durham highlighted a five-run third inning with his first homer of the season, a three-run blast off Rockies starter Jeff Francis.

"I didn't know if it was gone, but it carried more than I hit it," Durham said. "I thought it was going to get off the wall and I put a good swing on it but I didn't hit it good."

San Francisco, who scored more than five runs in just one of its first nine games, has scored eight in back-to-back contests.

"It's a long season, you can't go off 11 games. A lot of stuff can go your way in a week's span and you can find yourself in first place," Durham said. "It's definitely too early to say we can't score."

Francis (1-1) allowed seven runs and nine hits in five innings to take his first loss for Colorado, which has now dropped three in a row and five of its last six games.

"I'm not going to make any excuses," Francis said. "Bottom line, I just didn't execute when I needed to. I threw those pitches and left them up right where they were looking for them."

Three relievers combined to finish off the shutout for the Giants, who had three games against the Pirates postponed due to rain over the weekend.