SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- James Shields pitched every bit as effectively as his counterpart. However, he made one mistake and it cost him his first victory of the season.
Johnny Cueto pitched a seven-hitter for his seventh career shutout and 100th career victory, outworking Shields, who gave up three hits, and the San Francisco Giants beat the San Diego Padres 1-0 on Tuesday night.
"This was a pitchers' duel," Padres catcher Derek Norris said. "James was just as good but we were behind in the game and we had to pinch hit. Both pitchers keep hitters off balance and worked both sides of the plate."
Cueto (4-1) struck out a season-high 11 batters, walked one and repeatedly pitched out of trouble to help the Giants to their seventh straight home win against the Padres. It was his 13th career complete game.
"We had more opportunities to score than they did," Padres manager Andy Green said. "We couldn't get it done."
Denard Span drove in the game's only run with a two-out double in the fifth inning that scored Brandon Crawford.
"He was trying to sink it down and away and caught too much of the plate," Norris said. "The guy put a good swing on a good pitch and hit it."
Alexei Ramirez had two hits for San Diego. The Padres were blanked for the sixth time this season.
"Everybody is frustrated after a game like that," Green said. "He can't do much more than that. We have to find a way to scratch out a run."
The matchup between Cueto and Shields -- two former All-Stars -- lived up to the hype.
Shields (0-4) remained winless despite giving up only three hits over seven innings. The Padres' hard-luck ace did not allow a hit until Crawford's leadoff single in the fifth but received no run support again.
Cueto retired nine straight after Jon Jay opened the game with a leadoff double. He later worked out of a bases loaded jam in the fifth when he got Jay to ground into a 6-4-3 double play.
The Giants didn't get much off Shields until Crawford's leadoff single in the fifth. Cueto sacrificed Crawford to second and Span followed with an RBI double off the wall in right.
"I didn't have my best stuff but it was good to go out, keep the team in the game as long as I could and go deep in the game," Shields said.
NO RUNS FOR SHIELDS
Shields has four quality starts this season but has no wins to show for it, primarily because of San Diego's lack of offense behind him. The Padres have scored just five runs in the 33 innings that Shields has pitched this season and have been held scoreless three times when Shields is on the mound.
BOCHY: REPLAY OVERKILL
Giants manager Bruce Bochy believes teams have gone overboard in their challenges on plays at second base. "You see every manager is holding up the game to see if the guy was on the bag or the slide was good," Bochy said. "The point of the rule is to get the guy to slide. Now it's almost like a lawyer, you find a loophole -- if he came off the bag a couple inches or even though it was a good slide, it wasn't a slide that could hurt anybody, you can get called on it."
TRAINER'S ROOM
Padres: Right-handed reliever Kevin Quackenbush was unavailable after pitching in three consecutive games. ... LHP Michael Kirkman was called up from Triple-A El Paso. Utility man Jose Pirela was optioned down to make room. RHP Cory Mazzoni was designated for assignment.
UP NEXT
Padres: RHP Andrew Cashner (1-1) pitches in afternoon series finale on Wednesday seeking just his third win in nine career starts against San Francisco.
Giants: RHP Jeff Samardzija (2-1) starts against San Diego and is coming off his strongest outing of the season. Samardzija has also done well at the plate and is tied with Jake Peavy with three RBIs, most among San Francisco's pitchers.
Receive your weekly recap of all the happenings around the world of sports.