PEORIA, ARIZ. — Left-hander Barry Zito ended his 2012 campaign with a flourish, coming up with two monumental starts that were instrumental in the Giants’ second World Series title in three years.
The Giants’ hope of Zito taking that confidence into the 2013 season seems more likely by the outing. In Tuesday’s 6-3 spring loss to the Seattle Mariners, Zito struck out seven in five innings of work, at times making sluggers Kendrys Morales and Michael Morse look foolish.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — It wasn’t luck that Cole Gillespie had on his side Sunday when he capped off the Giants’ 9-7 win against the Colorado Rockies with a walk-off home run. It was motivation.
With just two weeks of spring training games left, and just a few precious roster spots remaining, the up-and-coming Gillespie made a pretty solid argument for himself in the bottom of the ninth on a home run to center field on a 3-2 pitch on St. Patrick’s Day.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Japan roughed up San Francisco starter Yusmeiro Petit for four runs and six of its 11 hits in four innings, beating the Giants 6-3 on Thursday.
Sho Nakata had three hits, and Takashi Toritani added two hits and two RBIs for Japan, tuning up for its appearance in the World Baseball Classic semifinals in San Francisco on Sunday. Toritani had a two-run double in Japan's three-run second inning.
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Barry Zito and Bronson Arroyo each left their starts thinking they have more work to do before the start of the season.
Some Giants youngsters had a good time all around.
Zito allowed a run while pitching 3¹⁄³ innings and Arroyo gave up one earned run in four, and the Giants beat the Cincinnati Reds 9-5 Wednesday.
Zito gave up five hits and struck out three for the Giants in an outing against the team the World Series champions rallied from a 2-0 deficit to beat in a best-of-five NL Division Series.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Tim Lincecum allowed three runs on four hits Tuesday night in his first spring training start since Feb. 26. The San Francisco Giants right-hander threw two scoreless innings before being undone in his third inning of work in the San Diego Padres' 6-2 win over the Giants.
Lincecum, the former two-time NL Cy Young Award winner who struggled to a 10-15 record last season, missed the past two weeks of spring training games with a blister on his right middle finger.
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Facing a lineup packed with big-leaguers helped the Giants’ Madison Bumgarner get a bit of a regular-season feel.Bumgarner pitched four-hit ball for four innings and struck out four in the Giants’ 2-1 win over the Texas Rangers on Monday.
“It went pretty good,” said Bumgarner, who went 16-11 with a 3.37 ERA last year. “I was happy with it. I said before, each time is a step in the right direction and each time has been a little bit better.”
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PHOENIX (AP) — Matt Cain is starting to find his groove.
The San Francisco righty allowed one run and struck out four in three innings as the Giants beat the Milwaukee Brewers 6-1 on Sunday,
"I had some pretty good movement. I was in pretty much every situation, had guys on and worked out of the windup. But everything was good," Cain said.
Cain's results this spring have been a far cry than those posted last season, when he went 16-5 with a 2.79 ERA and threw a perfect game.
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GOODYEAR, Ariz. — Ubaldo Jimenez is getting good results by quickening his delivery.
Nick Swisher and Jason Giambi hit consecutive homers off Heath Hembree, and Ubaldo Jimenez had a solid start on Thursday, leading the Cleveland Indians to a 6-4 victory over the Giants.
Hembree allowed Swisher’s third home run of the spring, a three-run shot in the fifth. Giambi hit his first.
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SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Nick Swisher supplies enough energy and enthusiasm to fill several clubhouses. These days, he’s getting an extra boost with all the new faces in Cleveland.
Swisher hit one of three Cleveland home runs, Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched three scoreless innings and the Indians beat the Giants 4-3 Tuesday.
Brandon Crawford hit a two-run homer for the Giants, who lost their second straight. Brandon Belt also homered.Madison Bumgarner gave up a run on three hits in his two innings for the Giants. He walked one and struck out three.
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GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — John Danks hadn't pitched in a game since last May.
The 10 months that passed since felt like 10 years to the Chicago White Sox left-hander.
The last two hours before Danks started Chicago's spring game against the San Francisco Giants on Monday seemed like an eternity to him, too.
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