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Giants seek fourth straight win in opener with Cubs

Apr 11, 2013 - 1:42 PM (Sports Network) - The San Francisco Giants target a fourth consecutive win on Thursday when they begin a four-game series with the Chicago Cubs at Wrigley Field.

San Francisco cooled off red-hot Colorado this week, culminating with another dominating effort from Barry Zito on Wednesday. The former American League Cy Young Award winner tossed seven shutout innings to lead the defending World Series champions to a 10-0 rout.

Zito (2-0) continued an impressive unbeaten run of his own by scattering seven hits and a walk and striking out four. The 34-year-old is now 11-0 over his last 16 starts, including last year's postseason, with the Giants prevailing in every one of those outings.

"You can't have more confidence than what Barry has right now," Giants manager Bruce Bochy remarked.

Zito also showed his skills at the plate, going 2-for-3 with an RBI single and two runs scored as part of a 16-hit onslaught by San Francisco.

Buster Posey finished a home run short of the cycle while driving in three runs in the lopsided win with Andres Torres also collecting three hits and adding a pair of RBI.

Hoping for that same type of run support on Thursday will be righty Ryan Vogelsong, who will take another crack at his first win of the season. Vogelsong lost his debut to St. Louis on Saturday, as he was tagged for five runs and nine hits in 5 1/3 innings.

"I didn't feel like I pitched terribly," said Vogelsong. "It was just one of those days."

He has faced the Cubs 15 times (9 starts) and is 4-5 against them with a 5.73 ERA.

Chicago, meanwhile, had the finale of its three-game set with the Milwaukee Brewers postponed by rain on Wednesday. The Cubs, though, had snapped a four- game losing streak with a 6-3 come-from-behind win on Tuesday.

"I think you always want to keep playing after you win, and you had a little momentum," Cubs manager Dale Sveum said. "Guys had some good at-bats. So it's not one of those things where you don't want to play. But there was nothing you could do about today. I don't even know if it's football weather."

Chicago will stick with righty Scott Feldman, who was scheduled to start Wednesday's finale against the Brewers. In his first National League start since signing a one-year deal with the Cubs this offseason, Feldman dropped a 4-1 decision in Atlanta, allowing four runs and five hits in 4 2/3 innings.

"He threw a lot of pitches that were uncompetitive pitches," Sveum said. "He was managing to get through a night where he didn't have much command of anything."

San Francisco won six of its seven matchups with the Cubs last season.