CINCINNATI — Coming out of the All-Star break, Barry Zito didn’t think much of the fact he’d be slotted between Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain in the Giants’ rotation.

Five weeks and seven starts later, Zito is starting to change his mind. He has a 2.36 ERA after the break. He is forming a dependable bridge between the Giants’ two towering aces.
He did it again Wednesday night, pitching six innings of two-hit ball in the Giants’ 1-0 victory over the Cincinnati Reds — their major-league-leading 16th shutout of the season.
“It’s definitely good to be in the middle,” Zito said. “It’s just fun to go out there. A series like this one is a good example, with Timmy and Matty pitching the first and last games. I’ve thought about it and I don’t know if there’s a direct correlation, but yeah, I think it does have some kind of effect.”
Zito didn’t receive the decision, but he shrugged it off. He had left for a pinch hitter before the eighth inning, when Nate Schierholtz’s double past diving left fielder Wladimir Balentien scored Edgar Renteria from first base.
A few years ago, Schierholtz was playing baseball at Chabot College and frequently attending games at the Oakland Coliseum while Zito fronted an A’s rotation with Tim Hudson and Mark Mulder.
“In Oakland, we’d look forward to the series when we had all three of us lined up to pitch,” said Zito, who recalled one such occasion at Arizona in 2001. “We swept them, and those guys won the World Series that year. I went up against (Curt) Schilling in the last game. It was fun to be a part of that.”
At minimum, Zito’s 8-11 record would be flipped with marginally better run support. The Giants failed to score a run on Zito’s watch for the ninth time in his 25 starts. Put another way, the former Cy Young winner has had zero chance to win in more than one-third of his outings.
“Even though he doesn’t get the win, we win the game because of him, because of the effort he gave us,” Giants Manager Bruce Bochy said. “He’s got confidence throwing all his pitches.”
Bochy said Zito is doing exactly what the coaches hoped when they decided to have him open as the No. 2 starter.
“It gives you a different look, which is what you want when you go into a three-game series,” Bochy said. “That’s what Randy (Johnson) did while he was getting eight wins for us. It’s what Z’s doing now.”
Zito did not allow a hit until the fifth inning, he walked just one batter, and his only runner in scoring position came when Drew Stubbs tweaked an inside-out double in the sixth for his first major league hit.
This wasn’t the Big Red Machine, though. More like a green Tonka truck. Cincinnati started just two hitters from its opening-day lineup and one of them, Joey Votto, departed after a half-inning because of dizziness.
Zito had thrown only 78 pitches, but Bochy pinch hit for him in the seventh after Juan Uribe’s two-out double off Bronson Arroyo put runners at second and third.
“At this point these games are like playoff games,” Zito said. “It’s not about individual achievements. I even told Boch, ’I understand the situation. I’ll go on deck, but I get it.”’ “
Bochy sent up Fred Lewis, who popped out to second base.
“What helps make that decision,” said Bochy, “is that we’ve got a pretty good bullpen.”
That bullpen is back in top form. A resurgent Sergio Romo (4-2) struck out the side in the seventh inning and retired two batters in the eighth to earn the victory. Jeremy Affeldt and Brian Wilson got the final four outs in succession, too, with Wilson recording his 30th save.