Baggs' Instant Replay: Angels 12, Giants 5

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ANAHEIMAfter a resurgent start to the season, Barry Zito has steadily devolved over his last three outings.And one of baseballs most loaded lineups beat the primordial soup out of him.Albert Pujols hit a three-run home run in the first inning, Mark Trumbo cleared the bases with a triple in the fourth and Zito got tagged for eight earned runs in the Giants 12-5 loss to the Los Angeles Angels Tuesday night.The Giants had won seven of Zitos first 11 starts as the left-hander posted a 2.98 ERA and held batters to a .223 average. But hes got his bad spring training mojo working again. He has a 10.67 ERA while losing each of last three outings. He has allowed 23 hits and eight walks in 14 13 innings over that span.Its a trend the Giants can ill afford, since they are also 0-9 in Tim Lincecums starts since his last victory April 24.The Giants trailed 9-1 and rallied to get within 9-5 in the seventh. But Pujols snagged Angel Pagans RBI ground out and then made a lunging stab of Pablo Sandovals line drive with two aboard to end the threat.Starting pitching reportZito (5-5) was not sharp against his former AL West rivals. He only retired one of the first seven hitters he faced, and that was on a sacrifice bunt.Exciting rookie Mike Trout led off thee first inning with a doublethe first of four hitsand Torii Hunter caught third baseman Pablo Sandoval playing back by putting down a bunt single. Pujols followed by digging out an 0-1 cutter that carried over the wall in left-center.Zito seemingly climbed into a shell after that, following up Trumbos infield single with two walks. It took a nice, running catch from Melky Cabrera to prevent Peter Bourjos deep drive from being more than a sacrifice fly.Zito was in the cauldron again in the second inning, when Trout doubled and Pujols singled him home. But Trumbo hit a sharp comebacker to the mound and Zito did well to turn it into a double play.The Angels sent another wave crashing onto shore in the fourth, when Zito loaded the bases on two singlesone by Trout, of courseand a walk to Pujols.George Kontos replaced Zito and immediately left a mistake fastball over the plate that Trumbo punished to deep center field. Angel Pagan appeared to stutter-step as he got near the wall, perhaps unsure when he would make contact. The ball, which appeared catchable, hit near the top of the wall and deflected away for a three-run triple.Bullpen reportKontos didnt make a good pitch to Trumbo, who scored on Howie Kendricks sacrifice fly to give the Angels a 9-1 lead in the fourth.But the right-hander settled down after that, mixing his fastball and power slider to strike out the next four hitters. Kontos, who was promoted to replace Steve Edlefsen because of his ability to pitch multiple innings, did just that while getting the Giants through the sixth.Clay Hensley worked a clean seventh inning but couldnt get the third out in the eighth. Trumbo hit a two-run single that put the Rally Monkey in pajamas.At the plateThe Giants were plucky and continued to put up tough at-bats even while facing a huge deficit. Gregor Blanco was emblematic despite not getting a hit, seeing 33 pitches over five plate appearances.The hits continued to fall for Melky Cabrera, who posted his second consecutive three-hit gameand his 10th of the seasonto give him a major league best 101 hits for the year.He needed just 291 plate appearances to reach 100 hitsthe fastest by a Giant in the clubs San Francisco era, beating the previous record of 295 set by Willie Mays in 1958.The Giants had enough offense to win, amassing 13 hits. They scored a couple of unearned runs against left-hander C.J. Wilson and chased him in the seventh inning, as designated hitter Buster Posey finally got a hit in his fourth try with runners on base. It was the first time Wilson (8-4) allowed more than one earned run since May 12.In fieldBourjos covered a lot of ground and then his momentum sent him into the wall after he caught Ryan Theriots drive in the third inning. It was Pujols who made the Angels most well timed contributions in the field, though.It probably wouldve been a different game if Pagan managed to haul in Trumbos three-run triple in the fourth inning.AttendanceThe Angels announced 38,010 paid. Tickets did not include admission to Disneys California Adventure.Up nextThe Giants complete their three-game series at the Big A with a Wednesday night game. Right-hander Ryan Vogelsong (6-2, 2.29) takes the mound against right-hander Jered Weaver (6-1, 2.61), who is coming off the disabled list after a lower back issue and will be limited to 80 pitches.