Impressive Second Start For Peavy
Jake Peavy took the mound for the second time during spring training and looked as strong as ever, despite the White Sox falling to the Giants. A.J. Pierzynski was especially impressed with Peavy's performance saying "His slider was as good as I've seen it in the last two years."
Barry Zito had most of his pitches working against the Chicago White Sox.
Zito allowed just two base runners with a hit and a walk over five shutout innings and the San Francisco Giants defeated the Chicago White Sox 4-2 on Wednesday.
"Fastball, change up for the most part," Zito said. "I felt significantly better than I've felt on the mound during spring training. Things were just smooth. When things are quiet and moving slowly, that's where success lies."
Zito had such an efficient day that he didn't reach his pitch limit in the game. He finished with 10 more pitches in the bullpen.
"He's a pro. He's handled everything so well, including the postseason thing and the stuff that's been said," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Zito, who was left off the postseason roster for the Giants last season. "He comes out here and he gives it all he's got. That's all you can ask of a player."
Zito outperformed Jake Peavy of the White Sox, who allowed one run - an Aubrey Huff solo home run - and one hit in 3 2/3 innings.
Peavy is coming back from shoulder surgery in July that ended his season.
"It wasn't as free and easy as the other day," Peavy said of his start, his second of spring training. "My body did all we asked it to do. I wasn't very sharp, but I had pretty decent stuff. A good step in the right direction, obviously another hurdle cleared and moving on toward (my) ultimate goal, and that's to break camp with the team."
Peavy said he plans to start every five days throughout the spring.
Catcher A.J. Pierzynski said Peavy was only supposed to go three innings but that his slider was "as good as I've seen in the last two years."
The Giants fielded a lineup that could closely resemble their opening day group at the end of this month, with the exception of ninth-place hitter Mark DeRosa, who was the designated hitter Wednesday.
Huff drove in two runs and San Francisco scored three in the sixth inning on RBIs from Andres Torres, Huff and Buster Posey off Chicago reliever Jeff Gray.
Giants closer Brian Wilson worked out of a jam in his inning of work. He gave up two hits and a walk and struck out two.
The White Sox got back-to-back solo home runs from Adam Dunn and Stefan Gartrell in the ninth inning.
Notes: Before Wednesday's game, the White Sox optioned RHP Lucas Harrell and RHP Jhonny Nunez to Triple-A Charlotte, and reassigned RHP Kyle Bellamy, LHP Charlie Leesman, C Josh Phegley, C Jared Price and OF Brandon Short to minor-league camp. ... Bochy said the Giants could make roster cuts by this weekend.
Copyright 2011 by STATS LLC and The Associated Press. Any commercial use or distribution without the express written consent of STATS LLC and The Associated Press is strictly prohibited.
