Who would have pegged this one to be a pitcher’s duel?

Barry Zito and Jonathan Niese square off Friday night in what’s bound to be a low-scoring game between the San Francisco Giants and New York Mets.

Zito has been uncharacteristically good this year, tossing two terrific outings to start the year. He started with a shutout against Colorado to start the year, and followed it up with seven good innings in a 4-2 win over the Pittsburgh Pirates last weekend.

Meanwhile, Niese has been just as good with two quality starts. He went 6 2/3s against the Philadelphia Phillies in a 5-0 win and is 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA.

If the Giants have anything going for them, its experience against dominant lefties. Just Wednesday San Francisco outlasted 10 marvelous innings from Cliff Lee. After he was chased in the 11th, Melky Cabrera broke a scoreless tie with an RBI single off Antonio Bastardo.

The Giants finished 4-2 during the homestand.

“This is the type of game that hopefully will give them some confidence,” manager Bruce Bochy told the team website.

The Mets are looking for that kind of home cooking. After getting pounded by the Atlanta Braves twice, New York finished 3-3 during their road trip.

“Anytime you’ll take .500 on the road, but because we got started on the trip so well, it’s a little disappointing the way it ended the last two days,” manager Terry Collins said.

Third baseman David Wright, though, has sizzled throughout. He has a hit in every game this year, and sits at .500. He tied Darryl Strawberry with his franchise-leading 733rd RBI on Wednesday.

“We’re very happy for him,” Collins said. “He came into spring training bound and determined to have a big year. He’s off to a great start and it’s fun to watch him play.”

Bovada’s MLB Player Props expects the same from him Friday.
New York has lost eight of its last 11 against the Giants, including three of four at home.

Still, Bovada is backing the Mets by 1 1/2 runs, with a -135 moneyline.