SAN FRANCISCO, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Barry Zito took a shutout into the ninth inning and Hector Sanchez keyed a four-run fifth inning Thursday in bringing San Francisco a 5-2 win over Atlanta.
The Giants used four pitchers to survive a messy final inning and won their fourth straight, moving three games in front of the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West.
Zito (10-8) allowed only three hits and struck out five through eight innings, and went to the mound in the ninth in hopes of completing a shutout.
After giving up singles to Martin Prado and Chipper Jones to start of the ninth, however, Zito was relieved by Jeremy Affeldt.
Affeldt promptly gave up a two-run double to Freddie Freeman and walked Dan Uggla.
Javier Lopez then came on for Affeldt and recorded a strikeout before Sergio Romo got the final two outs on just four pitches. Romo collected his sixth save.
San Francisco built a 5-0 lead with its four runs in the fifth, the last two coming in on a double by Sanchez.
The loss went to starter Tommy Hanson (12-6), who allowed all five runs on seven hits in 4 1/3 innings.
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- MLB: Atlanta 5, Washington 1
- MLB: San Francisco 8, LA Dodgers 4
- MLB: Texas 10, Minnesota 6
- MLB: LA Angels 14, Boston 13 (10 innings)
- MLB: Phila. 4, Cincinnati 3 (11 innings)
- MLB: Tampa Bay 5, Oakland 0
- MLB: St. Louis 13, Houston 5
- MLB: Detroit 3, Toronto 2 (11 innings)
- MLB: Colorado 1, New York Mets 0
