San Francisco Giants: Zito, Whiteside Carry Giants to 2nd Straight Victory

The Giants were getting nothing out of Barry Zito. Then, all of the sudden, Zito sprained his foot. He made some changes to his pitching. And now, the guy we used to see in Oakland is back in San Francisco.

Welcome back, Barry Zito.

After two straight spectacular starts, Zito followed by allowing just one run in eight innings as the Giants beat the Padres 2-1. Eli Whiteside homered.

Two struggling players, Eli Whiteside and Pat Burrell, were thrust into the lineup tonight with expectations. Whiteside and Burrell each knocked in a run and Miguel Tejada scored.

In 21 innings since returning from the disabled list, Zito has picked up three wins and given up just three runs while the Giants have given him enough run support.

Zito got in a lot of jams, just like he did against Detroit in his last start, but he got out of every one. With runners on first and third and no one out, Whiteside got Bill Hall stealing, then Zito got Chase Headley to pop up and Ryan Ludwick to strike out.

In the fifth, Jesus Guzman doubled with one out, but Rob Johnson struck out looking to end the inning. Zito's only mistake was a seventh-inning changeup that Ryan Ludwick hit out.

In the eighth, he gave Rob Johnson the same pitch, but Johnson just missed it, as Andres Torres made the catch about 10 feet in front of the wall.

In the ninth, Brian Wilson came in, looking for his 25th save of the year and first since Tuesday. After Chris Denorfia reached on an infield single, Jason Bartlett grounded into a fielder's choice.

Chase Headley, who sports the best batting average on the Padres, came up to the plate looking to take the lead for the Padres. Instead, he hit a grounder right at Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval threw to Burriss to get Bartlett out, then Burriss hit Huff at first to end the game.

Eli Whiteside increased his batting average from .212 to .225 by going 2-for-3 with a home run.
Whiteside hit a Cory Luebke change-up out in the third.

In the sixth, Miguel Tejada hit a grounder to third and it bounced off the base and into left field. Tejada advanced to second on the play, even though Orlando Hudson dropped the ball, allowing Tejada to make it safely.

The next batter was Pablo Sandoval, who hit a liner that dropped into left for a single. Tejada wasn't able to score, but when Pat Burrell hit a high fastball into right for a single, Tejada scored.

Sandoval extended his career-high hitting streak to 18 games with a sixth inning single.

San Francisco is now two games ahead of Arizona in the NL West heading into their series with the Mets.