The San Francisco Giants have had little trouble putting up runs on the road recently.
The Giants hope that trend continues Saturday night when they try to deny Arizona Diamondbacks rookie Wade Miley his 16th win.
San Francisco maintained its 7 1/2-game lead over the Dodgers in the NL West with a 6-2 win Friday while keeping Arizona 4 1/2 games behind St. Louis for the league's second wild-card spot.
Hunter Pence 's grand slam in a five-run third inning proved to be the difference.
With Friday's victory, San Francisco (82-62) has won 11 of its last 13 road games and is 22-7 away from home since July 17. The Giants have averaged 6.4 runs over those 29 road games and scored 23 over the last three.
Home and away, Pence is coming up big. He's driven in 18 runs over the last 15 games and has 11 RBIs in six games against the Diamondbacks (71-73) this year.
He's more concerned with improving a .233 batting average since joining the Giants, however.
"I need to get more hits is what that tells me," Pence said, "Make them pitch to (Buster) Posey with runners on."In contrast to the Giants' road success, Arizona continues to struggle at the plate at home, totaling 19 runs while going 2-7 in its last nine at Chase Field.
It's scored eight runs in the last four games overall, and stranded 15 runners Friday.
"We certainly had our opportunities," manager Kirk Gibson said. "A lot of plays we didn't play very well tonight. We made it harder on ourselves and we didn't capitalize on the opportunities we did have."Trying to make a move in the wild-card standings, the Diamondbacks turn to Miley (15-9, 3.07 ERA) on Saturday as he looks to become the first NL rookie since Jason Jennings with Colorado in 2002 to win 16 games.
Miley has won three of his last four decisions, although he labored his last time out. The left-hander was helped by Arizona's bats in an 8-5 win over San Diego last Saturday after giving up five runs and eight hits over 5 1-3 innings.
"I got frustrated early and really stayed frustrated," Miley told the Diamondbacks' official website. "I never really calmed down and got in a rhythm. That's what happens. Sometimes you get mad and it helps out, but I was just flying open, trying to throw the ball as hard as I could, leaving it up."
Miley made his season debut against the Giants on April 8, pitching four hitless innings of relief. This will be his first start versus San Francisco.
The Giants counter with Barry Zito (11-8, 4.33), who will look to build off one of his better starts of 2012 while trying to improve to 3-0 against the Diamondbacks this season.
Zito gave up four hits in 6 1-3 innings of a 4-0 win over the Dodgers on Sunday. The left-hander had gone a combined 7 1-3 innings over his previous two starts, allowing seven runs and 14 hits.
Despite Zito's inconsistency, the Giants have won his last seven starts, offering 7.17 runs of support per nine innings. He is 3-0 with a 4.54 ERA during that span, including a start against the Diamondbacks on Sept. 3, when he was charged with four runs in five innings of a 9-8 victory in 10 innings.
Zito is 3-4 with a 5.86 ERA in 11 career games at Arizona, but he held the Diamondbacks to three runs over six innings in a 7-3 win May 13.
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AVG
HRRUNSSBSOBBOBPSLGOPS
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Brandon Belt | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Gregor Blanco | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Emmanuel Burriss | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Melky Cabrera | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Matt Cain | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Brandon Crawford | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .000 |
| Aubrey Huff | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Buster Posey | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | .500 | .500 | .000 |
| Pablo Sandoval | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
VS.
| HITTERS | AB | AVG | H | HR | RBI | BB | SO | OBP | OPS | SLG |
| Henry Blanco | 5 | .200 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | .429 | .829 | .400 |
| Willie Bloomquist | 37 | .270 | 10 | 2 | 6 | 1 | 4 | .308 | .794 | .486 |
| Geoff Blum | 6 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | .125 | .125 | .000 |
| Aaron Hill | 8 | .250 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .250 | .500 | .250 |
| Daniel Hudson | 2 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .333 | .000 |
| Ian Kennedy | 0 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1.000 | 1.000 | .000 |
| John McDonald | 7 | .143 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .143 | .286 | .143 |
| Miguel Montero | 8 | .375 | 3 | 0 | 6 | 0 | 3 | .444 | 1.194 | .750 |
| Lyle Overbay | 5 | .200 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | .333 | .533 | .200 |
| Gerardo Parra | 2 | .500 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | .750 | 1.250 | .500 |
| Ryan Roberts | 9 | .444 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | .545 | 1.101 | .556 |
| Joe Saunders | 1 | .000 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | .000 | .000 | .000 |
| Justin Upton | 20 | .250 | 5 | 1 | 5 | 4 | 4 | .375 | .925 | .550 |
| Chris Young | 29 | .241 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 7 | .436 | .746 | .310 |
 San Francisco Giants |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| September 06, 2012 | Xavier Nady | Day-to-Day | Strained left hamstring |
| August 27, 2012 | Clay Hensley | 15-Day DL | Strained right groin |
| August 27, 2012 | Clay Hensley | 15-Day DL | Strained right groin |
| August 23, 2012 | Justin Christian | 15-Day DL | Sprained left wrist |
| August 23, 2012 | Justin Christian | 15-Day DL | Sprained left wrist |
| August 22, 2012 | Buster Posey | Day-to-Day | Hamstring tightness |
 Arizona Diamondbacks |
|||
| Date | Player | Status | Injury |
| September 11, 2012 | J.J. Putz | Day-to-Day | Stiff back |
| August 30, 2012 | Chris Johnson | Day-to-Day | Flu |
| August 21, 2012 | Justin Upton | Day-to-Day | Left game - Tight hamstring |
| August 17, 2012 | Jason Kubel | Day-to-Day | Neck stiffness |
| August 14, 2012 | Takashi Saito | 15-Day DL | Strained left hamstring |
| August 14, 2012 | Takashi Saito | 15-Day DL | Strained left hamstring |
PHOENIX (AP) -- As the San Francisco Giants ' lead in the NL West grows, the intensity remains the same.
"What's been nice is guys are continuing to go out with that fire and play hard," said Buster Posey , who had a two-run home run in the fifth to help the Giants beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 3-2 on Saturday night.
"Nobody's taking anything for granted."
Barry Zito scattered six hits and one run over 6 2-3 innings for the Giants, who have won four straight and 22 of their past 32. Zito (12-8) walked one and struck out four. Sergio Romo got the final four outs for his 11th save.
"It started with `Z' and what a job he did," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy . "He threw a lot of strikes, made some quality pitches and did a tremendous job."
Zito's outing was his longest since an eight-inning stint on August 23. He gave way to Santiago Casilla after surrendering a two-out ground rule double to left by John McDonald .
The Giants are unbeaten in Zito's last eight starts.
"It's great to be out there and have a part of a win no matter how we get it," Zito said. "It's not about individual stats, it's about the team stats. My body feels good right now and I'm thankful for that."
Justin Upton hit his 14th home run for the Diamondbacks, who have scored four runs or fewer in 12 straight home games to match a franchise record.
"They are shutting us down," said Arizona manager Kirk Gibson . "This is the fourth time they have won this year when he's pitching against us. You'd like to think you could make an adjustment and beat him tonight."
Arizona starter Wade Miley (15-10) allowed three runs on eight hits and a walk over seven innings.
Posey broke a 1-all tie in the fifth with a two-out home run two rows deep into the right-field stands. The All-Star catcher is hitting .390 in 55 games since the All-Star break with 12 homers and 49 RBIs.
"I made a bad pitch to Posey and he capitalized on it," Miley said. "He is a pretty good hitter and he does what you're supposed to do with that pitch. I tried to get a sinker down and off the plate. I was trying to get him to chase something off the plate."
The Diamondbacks cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the eighth. Aaron Hill walked, went to second on a ground out and scored on Paul Goldschmidt 's single off Romo, the Giants' third pitcher of the inning.
"We didn't have many (chances)," Gibson said. "We had a couple of chances with runners in scoring position and we scored only four runs in two nights."
San Francisco took a 1-0 lead two batters into the game when Angel Pagan tripled off the wall in left-center field and scored on a grounder to short by Marco Scutaro .
Upton tied the game in the bottom of the fourth with a solo shot to left-center field, his first homer in eight days and only his fifth against left-handed pitching this season.
Miley pitched into trouble in the fourth, loading the bases with a two-out walk to Hunter Pence , but retired Joaquin Arias on a fly ball to right to end the inning.
NOTES: Miley threw 116 pitches, the third time he has reached that mark this season. In both previous games, he earned the victory. ... Pagan's first-inning triple was his 13th of the season, a new San Francisco Giants ' record. Willie Mays holds the franchise's overall mark with 20 triples in 1957. " Willie Mays is one of the best players to step on a baseball field," he said. "To be next to that name it very special." ... Goldschmidt was caught stealing in the fourth for only the third time in 19 attempts. ... Arizona OF Tyler Graham made his major league debut in the ninth when he pinch ran for Miguel Montero . Two pitches later, Hector Sanchez threw him out trying to steal second with a throw from his knees. ... The Diamondbacks opened the retractable roof mid-game for the second time this season and first since a May 13 contest against the Giants. ... RHP Ryan Vogelsong (12-8) will take the mound for the Giants in Sunday's series finale against Diamondbacks LHP Patrick Corbin (5-7). Vogelsong is 2/3 in his past six starts and has allowed 28 runs on 43 hits in 26 1/3 innings for a 9.57 ERA. Corbin also has struggled of late, posting an 0-3 record and 6.00 ERA in his past four starts. ... The Diamondbacks staged their first-ever alumni contest after the game.
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San Francisco Giants