Barry Zito starts poorly. That's all there is to it.
He had a 5.16 March/April ERA entering this year, and it was more of the same in his 2009 debut at San Diego on Friday. He gave up three first-inning runs, requiring 39 pitches to get three outs, and was tagged with the 7-3 loss. His ERA for the first month is 5.21 after he gave up four runs and seven hits.
He was better the next three innings, but the damage was done.
The first inning started with Scott Hairston (single), David Eckstein (walk) and Brian Giles (double) reaching base, and all three scored.
The Giants are said to have the deepest rotation in the NL West, but only Matt Cain stood out among the first four starters. Tim Lincecum, Randy Johnson and Zito gave up 11 runs in 12 innings.
PADRES 7, GIANTS 3: Barry Zito gave up three first-inning runs, and the Giants never recovered. The Giants scored on singles by Fred Lewis and Bengie Molina (for a 4-2 deficit), but they blew a no-out, bases-loaded opportunity in the sixth when Travis Ishikawa hit into a double play and Aaron Rowand struck out. Rain stopped the game for 51 minutes after the sixth inning.
