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Zito's return highlights Giants' doubleheader with Cubs

Jun 28, 2011 - 2:44 PM (Sports Network) - It's been almost 10 years since Barry Zito was named the AL's 2002 Cy Young Award winner as a member of the Oakland Athletics.

Big bucks and even bigger dreams later followed when Zito penned a mega deal with the San Francisco Giants prior to the 2007 campaign, but great expectations soon faded and the left-hander is still in search of his first winning season since his last days with the A's.

Zito will take the mound for the first time in more than two months Tuesday, as the Giants play a day-night doubleheader against the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field. He last pitched on April 16 at Arizona and departed after just 1 2/3 innings because of a sprained right foot, permitting two runs and three hits in the 5-3 win.

The left-hander, who was activated off of the DL over the weekend and will start the nightcap, has allowed two runs in each of his outings this season and is 0-1 with a 6.23 earned run average in three starts. Zito will face the Cubs for the seventh time in his career and owns a 1-3 record with a 4.84 ERA over the first six starts. In order to make room for Zito, who was left off last year's World Series roster, the Giants placed starter Jonathan Sanchez on the disabled list with left biceps tendinitis.

Madison Bumgarner is one of the three lefties in the rotation with Zito and Sanchez, and pitched San Francisco to its fifth straight win in Sunday's 3-1 decision versus the Cleveland Indians at AT&T Park. Bumgarner struck out a career-best 11 batters and held the Tribe to a run in seven innings for the defending champions, who swept the Indians in three games and recorded a 5-1 mark on a six-game homestand.

In Bumgarner's outing against Minnesota on Tuesday, he lasted just a third of an inning and allowed eight runs to become the first pitcher in the modern era to give up nine hits and record less than two outs in game.

"I'm not going to say there wasn't any doubt. It's tough to forget about a start like that. I tried to put it behind me the best I could," said Bumgarner about his last appearance. "I wasn't thinking of the last start at all today. I was obviously focused on today."

Jeremy Affeldt struck out five batters in two perfect innings to earn his second save. Chris Stewart provided a two-run double in the second inning and Aubrey Huff added an RBI single in the third in the win. The NL West-leading Giants are two games ahead of Arizona and will also visit Detroit for three games after this four-game series with the Cubs.

Taking the hill for San Francisco in the opener of this doubleheader will be Ryan Vogelsong, who is a solid 5-1 with a 1.86 ERA in 13 games (11 starts). He is trying to nail down a spot in the rotation and defeated Minnesota the previous time out in a 5-1 victory last Wednesday, allowing only a run and four hits through seven innings.

Vogelsong is 2-0 with a 1.97 ERA over his last five starts and sports the same record in six games (5 starts) on the road this season. The righty, who's pitching for the first time since 2006, beat the Cubs back on May 14 with six shutout innings and seven strikeouts of a 3-0 triumph. He is 2-4 with a lofty 6.39 ERA in 12 career games (6 starts) against Chicago.

The Cubs opened an eight-game residency with Monday's 7-3 win over the Colorado Rockies in a makeup game of an earlier rainout.

Aramis Ramirez and Carlos Pena both homered twice and drove in three runs, while Ramirez ended 3-for-4 with three runs scored. Pena has homered in six of his last 11 games and Starlin Castro tripled to extend his career-high hitting streak to 11 games. He is batting .455 over the streak.

Matt Garza earned the win and surrendered three runs and five hits, including two homers, in 7 1/3 innings of work.

"It was a good day and a good win," Cubs manager Mike Quade said following his club's third win in nine tries. "Let's continue to do that."

Chicago is scheduled to host the crosstown rival White Sox on its current homestand and is a distant 11 1/2 games off the lead in the NL Central.

Taking the mound for Chicago in the matinee affair will be Doug Davis, who is just 1-6 with a 5.01 earned run average in eight starts. He lost to the White Sox his last time out in a 4-3 setback last Wednesday, as he yielded four runs -- three earned -- and eight hits in five innings.

Davis, a left-hander, is 1-3 in four home outings this season and has faced the Giants plenty of time in his career, going 5-9 with a 4.60 ERA in 21 career games (20 starts).

Rodrigo Lopez will make just his second start for the Cubs this season when he toes the rubber in the second portion of this twinbill. Lopez is 0-1 with a 6.59 earned run average in 10 games (1 start) with the big league club. His only start was a 12-7 loss versus Houston back on May 30, when the right- hander allowed six runs on 10 hits over 4 2/3 innings in the no-decision.

Lopez hasn't had much success in his career against San Francisco, going 0-3 with a 6.97 ERA in six starts.

The Giants and Cubs split a rain-shortened series back in May. San Francisco has won seven of the previous 10 meetings between the two teams.