Giants 5 - 3 Diamondbacks
Final
  for this game

Zito, Saunders square off in the desert

Apr 16, 2011 - 2:56 PM

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(Sports Network) - Barry Zito takes another shot at his first win of the season this evening when the San Francisco Giants play the middle test of their three-game series against the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field.

Following a no-decision in his first start of the year, Zito was tagged with the loss his last time out on Sunday against St. Louis, as he allowed four runs and six hits and walked five batters over 5 1/3 innings.

"His walks hurt him," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "He lost his release point a little bit. He was battling out there."

Zito, who is pitching to a 5.56 ERA this season, has struggled against the Diamondbacks over the course of his career, going 3-8 with a 5.15 ERA in 14 starts.

The Diamondbacks, meanwhile, will counter with lefty Joe Saunders, who is 0-1 on the year with a 6.00 ERA. Saunders was banged around in his last start on Sunday against Cincinnati, as he allowed five runs (four earned) and six hits in just three innings. His offense bailed him out, though, and he escaped with a no-decision in his team's 10-8 win.

This will be his first-ever start against the Giants.

San Francisco drew first blood in this series on Friday, as Pablo Sandoval clubbed a three-run homer in the opening inning and Matt Cain pitched into the seventh in the Giants' 5-2 win.

Cain (2-0) allowed just four hits and was charged with one run over six-plus frames. The right-hander walked two and had three strikeouts in the opener of the three-game series, helping the Giants win for the sixth time in eight contests.

"I felt good out there and was trying to throw both sides of the plate," said Cain. "Those guys over there have been swinging the bat well and I wanted to keep them off balance."

Daniel Hudson continued to be dogged by little or no run support, but gave up six hits and five runs -- four earned -- over six innings. Hudson (0-3), who tied a career-high with 10 strikeouts, had received just one run offensively in each of his first two starts before getting zero runs on Friday while he was in the game.

Willie Bloomquist knocked in both runs for the Diamondbacks, who lost for the second straight time.

San Francisco won 13 of its 18 matchups with the D'Backs last season and is 27-10 in the series since the start of the 2009 campaign.






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