The Giants could not recover and lost to the Padres 7-3. Moreover, they lost to San Diego's fifth starter, Shawn Hill, a Washington Nationals castoff. Take a minute to let that sink in.

Even with the pressure of being The Man supposedly lifted now as the fourth starter, Zito was gone after four innings and four runs allowed. He has a familiar record after one start: 0-1. He has not been 1-0 since 2003.

This first time through the Giants' rotation has not been smooth. Matt Cain was terrific Thursday night, holding Milwaukee to a run in seven innings, but Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson and Zito combined to allow 11 runs in 12 innings.

Jonathan Sanchez completes the cycle tonight against Jake Peavy.

For a split-second, it looked like Bengie Molina tied a 4-2 game in the eighth inning after Fred Lewis' leadoff walk. Molina sent a Duaner Sanchez pitch to the wall in left-center, where Scott Hairston made a leaping, double-saving catch. Molina held his head with both hands in disbelief.

For an encore, Hairston hit a three-run homer against Merkin Valdez to seal it.

Not much changed for Zito, who had lousy first innings in his two Opening Day starts for the Giants after signing his seven-year, $126 million contract. Total damage from his first innings of 2007, 2008 and 2009: seven runs on nine hits and 78 pitches.

Thirty-nine of those pitches came in Friday's dreadful first, as San Diego batted around and took a 3-0 lead.

The leadoff man Hairston singled before Zito walked David Eckstein on four pitches and went 2-0 on Brian Giles. Giles then doubled home the first run, Adrian Gonzalez's infield out scored the second and Kevin Kouzmanoff's single the third.

Even when Zito won, he lost. With two outs and two on, he got No. 8 hitter Luis Rodriguez to hit a slow bouncer to Emmanuel Burriss, who flipped the ball to shortstop Edgar Renteria.

That would have worked had Renteria decided to cover second base. He did not, probably figuring Burriss would throw to first. The bases were loaded and Zito needed seven more pitches to Hill to get out of the inning.

Velocity and stuff were not the issues for Zito. His fastball hit 88 mph and he struck out four. Pitch location was a problem, evidenced by the seven hits he allowed and the 93 pitches he threw in four innings.

Zito's three-inning recovery before he was lifted for a pinch-hitter offered some hope that he has the tools to keep his 0-1 record from mushrooming to 0-8 like it did last year.

The score was 4-1 Padres when Renteria doubled to start the sixth. Singles by Lewis, Molina and Pablo Sandoval produced a run and left the bases loaded, still with nobody out. The Giants were on the verge of bingo until they ran into a rookie reliever, Luke Gregerson.

The righty got Travis Ishikawa to hit into a home-to-first double play then fanned Aaron Rowand on three pitches to preserve the 4-2 lead he inherited.