But on Wednesday night at Progressive Field, the Indians made Zito look more like the guy who won a Cy Young Award with the A's in 2002 than the guy who was recently demoted to the Giants bullpen for a spell. They were punchless against the left-handed Zito for 6 2/3 innings, paving the way to a 4-1 loss in front of 25,654 fans.

The Indians didn't get a baserunner to second against Zito until the sixth inning. By that point, they were already down 3-0.

Left-hander Jeremy Sowers started off shaky but recovered to turn in a quality start. He gave up a two-run single to Aaron Rowand in the first and a solo homer to Jose Castillo in the third. But he finished strong to give the Tribe seven innings of work.

Sowers, though, didn't get much help from his offense. The Indians did manage one run off Zito in the seventh, when he left behind a runner at second and pinch-hitter Shin-Soo Choo came through with an RBI single off reliever Keiichi Yabu.

But the Giants quickly accounted for that run in the eighth, when John Bowker hit a solo homer off reliever Rafael Betancourt to all but seal this defeat for the Tribe. The Indians have now lost seven of their last nine games.