Giants hammer Phillies behind Zito
PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - The San Francisco Giants, trying to battle their way out of the National League West basement, scored an 8-1 win over the Philadelphia Phillies on Monday to close the second leg of a three-city road trip.
The Giants, who moved a half-game ahead of idle Colorado and into fourth place in the division, now move on to Arizona to play one of three teams tied atop the division at the start of Monday.
Barry Zito, the high-priced free agent who is starting to settle in at the Giants, gave up one unearned run in six innings.
Ryan Klesko and Ray Durham homered to lead San Francisco, who lost heartbreaker 9-8 to the Phillies on Sunday.
"I just saw the standings," Zito told reporters.
"They're really weird -- three teams (the Dodgers, Padres and Diamondbacks) tied for first and two of us tied for last. It's important for us to make a statement."
Zito (6-5) is making a statement of his own. He has allowed only one earned run over 20 innings in winning his last three starts.
Klesko broke a scoreless tie with a three-run homer off loser Jon Lieber (2-4), keying a five-run fifth inning.
Barry Bonds continued to struggle at the plate.
The slugger, who needs 10 home runs to become baseball's all-time home run leader, was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a walk on Monday.
He is just 11-for-60 with a homer and three RBIs in his last 21 games.
He hit 11 homers in his first 76 at-bats this season and has one in the last 61.
*The Chicago Cubs won their second game in a row without suspended manager Lou Piniella, beating the Milwaukee Brewers 7-2 in Milwaukee. Prince Fielder belted his NL-high 20th homer for the Brewers.
*The Los Angeles Dodgers inched ahead in the NL West with a 6-5 win over the Pirates in Pittsburgh. Derek Lowe, who pitched a no-hitter for the Red Sox in 2002, pitched six no-hit innings before leaving in the seventh and winning his sixth game of the season.
(Writing by Mike Shalin in Boston)
