SAN DIEGO — Remember when Barry Zito was the $126 million millstone around a franchise’s neck? On the Giants’ current list of worries, he’s somewhere between bench splinters and swine flu.

Zito threw his first complete game in six seasons Tuesday night, second baseman Emmanuel Burriss made a run-saving stop and Fred Lewis was a man transformed while catching everything in left field.
They couldn’t have done a better job following their pitching-and-defense blueprint. But even the most modest house requires some wood, and the Giants brought none in a 2-1 loss to the San Diego Padres at Petco Park.
“We wasted another great outing by a pitcher,” said catcher Bengie Molina, his voice thick with regret. “That’s just how it is. It’s just the truth.”
In what is becoming a sad and familiar sight, Giants Manager Bruce Bochy grumbled after watching his team fail to register a hit in 12 at-bats with runners in scoring position. The Giants’ run scored when Burriss beat out a double-play grounder in the sixth inning.
In the fourth, the Padres had their infield back with one out and a runner on third base. Rich Aurilia struck out.
“It comes down to executing and we were awful,” Bochy said. “We couldn’t make a productive out. We were 0 for 11 with runners in scoring position the first four innings, and that’s not going to work.”
Zito is giving his teammates a chance to win every time, but they aren’t reciprocating. The left-hander has the lowest run support of any pitcher in the major leagues; the Giants have scored 10 runs for him in eight starts.
“I’ve been here before,” said Zito, somewhat ironically, referring to his record.
Even while pitching for the A’s, he had a history of slow starts. This time, his 1-4 record doesn’t reflect the way he has pitched.
“I’m just glad I’m throwing the ball the way I am at this point in the season,” Zito said. “There’s nothing productive that can come from getting frustrated. I’ve got to stay aggressive and let things play out.”
Zito allowed five hits in eight innings, but two were home runs by Scott Hairston and Nick Hundley. Zito lamented he didn’t get his fastball on Hairston’s hands and his change-up to Hundley hovered in the zone.
The complete game was his first as a Giant. His previous one came Aug. 7, 2003, at Detroit, when he also pitched eight innings in a loss. His last nine-inning complete game was a shutout April 18, 2003, against the Texas Rangers at the Oakland Coliseum.
The Padres have their own offensive shortcomings and their bullpen is a bird’s nest of found material, but the Giants haven’t beaten them in four games at Petco Park this season.
The Padres had their own issues with runners in scoring position. They were 1 for 7, and their only hit was a dribbler by Hundley that failed to advance a runner from second base.
At least Zito’s strong start might quell the “personal catcher” controversy. With a day off Monday, there was no reason for Bochy to rest his frontline catcher. So Molina worked with Zito for the first time since April 16 and just the third time in eight starts.
“I can only tell you one thing,” Molina said. “I’m not the manager. I’m the player. If he puts me in there, I’ll catch. If he doesn’t, I’ll sit and take a day off. Barry, for me, is fun to catch. I always enjoy catching him.”
Molina didn’t enjoy hitting against Chris Young, who lasted six innings before turning the game over to the most anonymous setup staff in the majors.
“I kept swinging at that high ball,” Molina said. “You want to swing, you see it good and you can’t hit it. But bottom line, we as a group have got to hit. It doesn’t matter who’s pitching or who’s playing. We’ve got to hit.”