Giants fall to Reds

Sat. August 30, 2008; Posted: 01:51 AM

Aug 30, 2008 (San Jose Mercury News - McClatchy-Tribune News Service via COMTEX) -- GTAM | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- San Francisco Giants Manager Bruce Bochy started a new, farm-fresh combination on his infield Friday night, knowing that young mistakes would be part of the deal.

Sure enough, third baseman Pablo Sandoval made a blunder that a more experienced player probably would have avoided. But Barry Zito, a 30-year-old former Cy Young award winner, had no such excuse while committing many more missteps in an 11-7 loss to the Cincinnati Reds at Great American Ball Park.

Zito (8-16) allowed a grand slam to Edwin Encarnacion in the third inning to trigger fireworks over the Ohio River. The Giants' youth brigade stormed back to tie with a four-run rally off hard-throwing Edinson Volquez in the top of the fourth, but Zito found trouble again in the bottom of the inning.

Zito was coming off victories in consecutive starts, something he hadn't done all season. He was trying to win three in a row for the first time since May 23-June 4 of last season. But he wasn't sharp against a Reds lineup that lost Adam Dunn and Ken Griffey Jr. in trades earlier this month.

Eugenio Velez hit a two-run triple in the fourth to complete a four-run comeback and give Zito a do-over. But the left-hander's troubles began anew when Jolbert Cabrera led off the fourth with a double. First baseman Travis Ishikawa made a heads-up play after fielding Paul Bako's grounder, catching Cabrera in a rundown after snapping a throw to third baseman Pablo Sandoval.

Sandoval chased Cabrera back to second base, but showed his inexperience as a third baseman when he committed his throw too soon. Cabrera changed direction, noticed that nobody was covering third and rushed past an empty-handed Sandoval to take the base.

Zito was blameless for failing to cover third base. He broke toward first base on contact and couldn't have rushed across the diamond in time.

Bit Zito couldn't be absolved for the next mistake. He dropped the ball while attempting a barehand pickup of Edinson Volquez's sacrifice bunt, then bounced a hurried throw to first base. Second baseman Velez covered the bag and wasn't able to pick it, allowing Volquez to reach on Zito's error to load the bases.

There would be no miraculous escape for Zito. Michael Dickerson hit a two-run double, and after an intentional walk, the left-hander plunked Joey Votto to force home another run.

Billy Sadler issued a bases-loaded walk before escaping the four-run inning. Sadler's command issues struck again in the fifth, when he hit Cabrera with a pitch before serving up a two-run homer to Dickerson that gave the Reds a 10-5 lead.

The Reds called up Dickerson to take Adam Dunn's roster spot after the hulking power hitter was traded to the Arizona Diamondbacks on Aug. 12.

Prior to the game, Bochy said he would give Sandoval a chance to establish himself at third base "" a position the rookie hadn't played regularly since the first two months of the 2006 season at Low-A Augusta.

He also moved Emmanuel Burriss across the middle infield to shortstop, which essentially put organizational player Ivan Ochoa on the bench and opened up second base for Velez.

It's an alignment the Giants figure to use often over the final month of the season.

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