Major League Baseball

Sandoval, Zito carry Giants past Brewers 13-3

Published Mar. 11, 2012 1:10 a.m. ET

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Barry Zito is happy with the progress he's made so far this spring.

He allowed one hit in three scoreless innings and the San Francisco Giants earned a 13-3 win over the Milwaukee Brewers in a split-squad game on Saturday.

The left-hander threw 30 strikes out of 45 pitches.

Zito, who made some changes to his delivery over the winter, said he didn't feel quite as good as the results today, but he's had a strong spring. He's given up two runs in five innings.

''Every day I'm trying to take it one day at a time, and not get ahead of myself,'' Zito said.

Pablo Sandoval doubled and homered in the Giants' eight-run third inning. It was his first homer of the spring.

The Giants had 16 hits, including three homers. Prospect Tommy Joseph hit two homers and drove in four runs.

Milwaukee's Mat Gamel, who is taking over at first this season after the departure of Prince Fielder, hit his third homer of the spring, a three-run shot in the fourth inning.

Also, Milwaukee's Nyjer Morgan left the game in the second inning as a precaution after he was hit in the helmet by a pitch in the first.

Shortstop Brandon Crawford doubled and tripled and had 3 RBIs for San Francisco. He's 6-for-14 with six RBIs this spring.

''I think really he's going to help contribute to this offense,'' Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. ''He made a couple adjustments with his swing. He's shortened it up. It allows him to get to balls he wasn't able to get to before.''

Crawford batted .204 as a rookie last year. But that swing adjustment he made late in the regular season also carried over to the Arizona Fall League.

And now he's off to a strong start in the spring.

''I've played well the last couple of seasons whenever I've made that small change, and I'm doing well here to start out,'' he said. ''It's definitely good for the confidence.''

Notes: San Francisco's Buster Posey reported feeling fine a day after his first game action of the spring. Posey is scheduled to start again on Sunday, catching four innings. Posey missed most of last season after injuring his left knee in a home plate collision. ... Reliever Brian Wilson is scheduled to make his spring debut on Sunday. Wilson has been out because of a sore elbow. ... Freddy Sanchez will not make his spring debut in the field until Wednesday or Thursday. Bochy had said on Friday that Sanchez could play second as soon as Monday, but the manager said he was mistaken and that the plan was never for Sanchez to play that soon. ... Wily Peralta, considered the top prospect in the Brewers' system, gave up four runs in 2 1/3 innings in his first start of the spring. ... Caleb Gindl had two hits to raise his spring average to .417.

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