April 11th, 2012
Accentuate the Positive
For the second time in his career, Nate Schierholtz had a multi-home run game.
Despite the final score there were many positive moments from tonight’s game – like the 4th inning where the Giants scored 7 runs in one inning for the first time since an 8-run inning last September (which also happened at Coors Field).
Brandon Crawford hit his first home run of the year and the 4th of his career.
Melky Cabrera and Pablo Sandoval both scored on a single from Hector Sanchez.
Gregor Blanco scored on a sacrifice fly from Nate Schierholtz.
And Hector Sanchez tagged out Todd Helton at the plate in the bottom of the inning.
Quick Hits for Wednesday, April 11, 2012 (Game #5)
BARRY GOOD...LHP Barry Zito’s shutout on Monday was his 1st since April 18, 2003 vs. Texas...Zito had 4 shutouts in his 1st 88 career starts...it was the 5th shutout of his career, his 1st on the road and his 1st in a Giants uniform...it also marked the 1st time that a Giants player tossed a shutout here at Coors Field.
Click here for today’s complete game notes, which contain more stats than you can shake a stick at.
MORE Z ...Zito ended his streak of 274 consecutive starts without a shutout, the 3rd-longest drought in Major League history...Tim Wakefield (353 straight, from 1997-2011) and Kirk Rueter (299 straight, from 1995-2005) had longer spans (Elias).
FROM ELIAS SAYS...On Monday, Zito did not issue a walk while throwing his shutout, becoming the 1st pitcher since the Reds’ Pete Harnisch in 1999 to throw a shutout without issuing a walk fewer than 5 games into his team’s season (Elias).
ANGEL PAGAN...Has gone 69-for-86 in stolen base attempts in his last 2 seasons, with his 69 steals tying for the 9th-most among all Major League players during that span.
AUBREY HUFF... Is a lifetime .346 hitter (28-for-81) with 5 HRs and 10 RBI in 22 games here at Coors Field.. Is 4-for-6 with a HR in his career against tonight’s starter Jeremy Guthrie.
BEHIND THE PLATE...rookie C Hector Sanchez caught Zito’s shutout on Monday in what was just his 7th career big league start behind the dish...the last catcher to be behind the plate for a shutout by a pitcher within his 1st 7 starts of his career was Hank Conger (4th start) for the Angels on Sept. 21, 2010 (pitcher was Ervin Santana)...the last Giants catcher to do this was Jim McNamara on April 11, 1992 in his 1st start (Bill Swift was the pitcher) (Elias).
