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Athletics give rude welcome to Zito, roll past Giants

May 19, 2007 - 7:10 AM OAKLAND, California (Ticker) -- Barry Zito's return to McAfee Coliseum and Barry Bonds' pursuit of the all-time home run record meant absolutely nothing to Chad Gaudin and the Oakland Athletics.

Gaudin tossed six solid innings and Dan Johnson homered, drove in two runs and scored four times as the Athletics took advantage of Zito's control problems en route to a 15-3 triumph over the San Francisco Giants in the opener of their interleague series Friday.

Emerging as one of the top pitchers in baseball during his seven-year career with Oakland, Zito moved across the Bay this past winter, signing a seven-year, $126 million contract with San Francisco. The 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner has failed to live up to the deal over his first eight starts this season, going 3-4 with a 4.29 ERA.

In his first outing against his former team, Zito (3-5) was anything but effective. The lefthander came up with his shortest performance of the campaign, lasting just four-plus innings in losing his second straight start.

"I was just missing tonight," Zito said. "I walked four guys in the first. Those guys were taking a lot of pitches, good pitches just off the plate, just out of the zone. You've got to hand it to them, their approach showed through tonight."

After retiring the first batter he faced, Zito's night went completely downhill. Nick Swisher began the ugly first inning with a single before Zito walked the next three batters, forcing in the game's initial run.

"The first thing I noticed about him was the black shoes," Swisher said. "That was the biggest difference for me. He's a friend of mine, and he'll be a friend of mine after this. When you're facing him though, it's all about trying to get to him, and I know he was trying to do the same to us."

Bobby Crosby made it 2-0 with an infield single and Mark Ellis drew the fourth walk of the frame to plate Johnson. Zito avoided further damage by getting rookie Travis Buck to ground into an inning-ending double play.

"He was just off with his command," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "The walks, it was obvious that they would come back to hurt him, hurt us. This is just one of those games that we have to wash off. There's no getting around this, we were awful tonight. We had an off-night, and that's what it was."

Zito retired the side in order in the second but ran into more trouble in the third. Eric Chavez opened the inning with a single and Johnson belted a first-pitch homer to center field, giving the Athletics a 5-1 bulge.

"It was a huge win for us," Johnson said. "We had a lot of lefties in the lineup and we were facing Barry Zito, one of the best lefthanded pitchers in the game. We were able to jump out in front early, get some momentum and keep it going from there."

The duo caused more problems in the fifth as Chavez drew a leadoff walk and Johnson singled, ending the evening for Zito. Vinnie Chulk came on and surrendered an RBI single to Jack Cust and a run-scoring groundout by Crosby as Oakland stretched the advantage to 7-1.

A three-time All-Star, Zito was tagged for seven runs and six hits, striking out two while issuing a season-high seven walks, which matches the total issued in his previous three starts combined.

"For me, it was kind of strange," Zito said of facing the Athletics. "I don't know if my emotions played into it, but it was different for me to run out there from the other side of the mound tonight and face guys that you never faced because they were on your team."

"It was really cool facing him," Oakland's Mark Ellis said. "Barry is a great competitor, and the best thing I could say about him is that he is the most reliable teammate I've ever had. It was really neat to face him tonight and compete against him."

Conversely, Gaudin (3-1) helped Oakland erase the memories of a disappointing four-game series against lowly Kansas City in which it lost three times. The righthander limited the Giants to just two runs and seven hits in six innings, striking out two while walking a pair.

"I was a little erratic with my fastball, but I made some good pitches when I needed to," Gaudin said. "Our offense was unbelievable tonight, though. That always makes it easier to pitch when you get support like that."

Just 10 homers away from tying Hank Aaron's all-time mark of 755, Bonds went 2-for-3 with a walk. He struck out against Gaudin in the second inning before singling in both the third and sixth vs. the 24-year-old.

The Athletics continued their onslaught against the Giants' bullpen as Swisher hit a two-run double in the sixth off Chulk and Buck belted a solo homer off Jonathan Sanchez in the seventh. Oakland erupted for five runs in the eighth, as Ellis highlighted the frame with his second career grand slam off lefthander Steve Kline, who was ejected immediately thereafter for arguing balls and strikes.

"A lot of it was just frustration," said Bochy, who also was tossed. "(Kline) made a pretty good pitch there and didn't get the call, and then they get a grand slam. You get to the boiling point, and that's where Kline was. It was a frustrating night."