Barry Zito winless in 1st 6 starts for 1st time in his career after Giants fall to Reds 10-1
Associated Press | Apr 27, 08 6:36 PM CDT in
Sports
Edinson Volquez struck out a career-high 10 in seven innings, Brandon Phillips homered twice and the Cincinnati Reds roughed up Barry Zito in a 10-1 win over the San Francisco Giants on Sunday.
Volquez (4-0) allowed one run and five hits to win his third consecutive start, and Ryan Freel's two-run single keyed a six-run first inning for Cincinnati. Freel later doubled and scored as the Reds won consecutive games for the first time in more than two weeks.
Zito, winless in his first six starts for the first time in his career, gave up eight runs and walked three in only three innings. The left-hander, who signed a $126 million, seven-year deal prior to last year, was booed frequently by the crowd at AT&T Park during his shortest outing of the season.
Phillips hit solo home runs in the seventh and ninth, the fourth time in his career he's had two homers in one game. Both came off Pat Misch, who was called up from Triple-A Fresno earlier in the day after the Giants placed starter Kevin Correia on the 15-day disabled list.
Volquez, who was acquired from Texas in an offseason trade, gave up Randy Winn's RBI single in the third but pitched out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the inning.
Volquez, who threw two wild pitches and a hit a batter, retired 12 of the final 14 he faced. His ERA rose from 1.21 to 1.23.
Zito got off to a rough start and couldn't recover, a familiar theme this season.
He gave up two walks and five hits in the first inning when the Reds batted around, including an RBI triple from catcher Paul Bako that made it 6-0. After lasting only 3 2-3 innings in his previous start, Zito needed 39 pitches to get out of the first.
The Reds added another run in the second when Corey Patterson drew a leadoff walk, stole second and scored on Jeff Keppinger's single to left.
Zito gave up seven hits, walked three and struck out one.
Notes:@ Volquez helped himself with a run-scoring groundout in the third.
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