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Zito stellar as Giants rout Dodgers

Sep 20, 2008 - 6:34 AM By Jonathan Raber PA SportsTicker Contributing Writer

LOS ANGELES (Ticker) -- The San Francisco Giants are trying to make life as difficult as possible for the Los Angeles Dodgers.

Barry Zito pitched 7 2/3 strong innings and Bengie Molina homered and drove in four runs as the Giants drubebd the NL West leaders, 7-1, on Friday.

Rookie Pablo Sandoval had a pair of hits, two RBI and scored two runs for San Francisco in the first of six games over the next nine days between the rivals.

"There's some history here between the clubs and we're going to do all we can to win ballgames," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "With the fans and the players, there's probably a little more incentive to play well here."

"We want to spoil the Dodgers, we want to spoil Arizona," Zito said. "To have a big series here and make a statement (is huge)."

With the loss, the Dodgers (80-74) missed an opportunity to gain breathing room over the Arizona Diamondbacks (76-77), who dropped a 3-2 decision to the Colorado Rockies and remain 3 1/2 games behind Los Angeles. The Dodgers' magic number to clinch the division is six.

Zito (10-16) was sharp in earning his second consecutive victory, allowing one run, six hits and a walk while striking out six. The 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner surrendered his only run when Pablo Ozuna belted his first home run of the season with one out in the eighth inning.

Zito, who was 0-8 at one point, is back on track after a disastrous start.

"He's had some terrific games," Bochy said. "Really, after the first six weeks where he struggled, he's been much better and a lot more consistent with his pitches."

Zito will try to use his final start as a launching pad to next season.

"I have one start left and it's important to go out on a high note and pitch well that last game and get myself where I need to be," Zito said.

The Giants broke the game open with four runs in the fifth off Dodgers starter Greg Maddux (7-13). With two outs in the frame, Sandoval doubled home a pair of runs before Molina hit his 15th home run to give San Francisco a 7-0 lead.

"We just gave up too much early," Dodgers manager Joe Torre said.

Maddux was denied in his attempt to move past Roger Clemens into seventh place on baseball's all-time wins list. The veteran righthander, who has 354 career wins, was knocked around in five innings of work, surrendering seven runs and nine hits with one strikeout. It was Maddux's fourth loss in six starts since being acquired from the San Diego Padres on August 19.

"I wish I could've pitched better," Maddux said. "Some pitches were good, some weren't very good."

Molina's two-run single in the first put the Giants on the board and Dave Roberts increased their advantage with an RBI single in the second.