San Francisco Giants Take on the First-Place Houston Astros

By Sean Bialaszek | May 12, 2015

The San Francisco Giants ended their 10-game homestand on Sunday with a 7-3 record, capped by a dramatic ninth inning comeback on Sunday against the Miami Marlins. With that win, the Giants are back at .500, sitting at 16-16. In order to get over that hump and back over .500, the team will need to sweep a two-game set with the Houston Astros.

The last time the Astros and Giants were paired up was 2012, when San Francisco won eight out of nine contests, including Matt Cain‘s perfect game to win one. This time around, there will be no Cain, and this is a completely different Astros’ team.

In 2012, the Astros were still a National League team, and they finished that season with a 55-107 record en route to a last-place finish in the Central Division. Now, the Astros are in the American League West, and they’re in first place with a 20-12 record. This isn’t your dad’s Astros team.

Houston is 8-8 at Minute Maid Park, and San Francisco is 5-7 away from their home at AT&T Park. Both teams are coming off rest days on Monday.

This quick two-game set will be the first in which the Giants have the benefit of using the designated hitter. This could give manager Bruce Bochy an opportunity to keep Buster Posey out of the squat, and put backup Andrew Susac in the lineup, but there are a lot of potential lineup combinations that could be in the works.

Here are the projected pitching matchups for this mini-series.

Game 1: Chris Heston (2-3, 3.38 ERA) vs. Collin McHugh (4-0, 3.23 ERA)

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Heston was lights out over his first four starts of the year, but the league seems to have figured him out. In his first outing at Coors Field, he surrendered six runs on 11 hits in 5.1 innings, taking the loss. In his most recent start against the San Diego Padres, he gave up 11 hits again, plus five runs in five innings. There is a solid start against the Los Angeles Angels sandwiched between those two, however.

In that start versus the Padres, Heston left the ball up a lot, and he’ll need to fix that in Houston. Minute Maid is known as a pretty good hitter’s park, and if he continues to leave the ball up, the ball could be flying.

Heston has never faced the Astros, and has never faced anyone in the Astros’ lineup either.

McHugh is undefeated in his six starts, but he has gotten a lot of offensive support. The team averages over six runs on his behalf per game. His last outing against the Angels may have been his best, as he went 7.1 innings, and allowed just five hits, one walk, and two runs while striking out seven.

McHugh has never faced San Francisco, but he does have some experience against a couple Giants’ hitters. Nori Aoki is 2-6, and Casey McGehee is 0-2, each with an RBI.

Game 2: Tim Hudson (1-3, 4.50 ERA) vs. Brett Oberholtzer (2015 debut)

Hudson was roughed up in his most recent start, as he was tagged for 15 hits and six runs and 6.2 innings against the Marlins. If Hudson wants to get back on track, Minute Maid Park is the perfect place for him.

In his career against the Astros, Hudson is 5-0 with a 1.24 ERA. At the Astros’ home, he is 2-0 with a 1.57 ERA. Hudson is the only slated starter out of this quartet who has faced the opposition in the past.

But there aren’t a lot of hitters in the Houston lineup who have experience with Hudson. One player who loves hitting off of him is Colby Rasmus, who is 6-14 (.429) with a double, two home runs, and four RBI.

Oberholtzer was 5-13 in 2014 with a 4.39 ERA, but he hasn’t pitched in the major leagues this year, spending the first month on the disabled list with a blister on his pitching hand. In two rehab starts, he’s allowed seven runs in eight innings with the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, San Francisco’s former affiliate.

He has never faced the Giants, or any of their hitters.

Brandon Belt had a great homestand, going 13-33 (.394) with six doubles and a triple, along with four walks. He’s still searching for the first home run of the year, and narrowly missed on more than one occasion over the past week. He’ll have a good opportunity to get off the schneid in Houston, as Minute Maid is much more hitter-friendly than AT&T Park (but then again, what park isn’t?)

Since suffering a finger injury last week, Angel Pagan has gone through a bit of a cold spell. He has four hits in his last 20 at-bats, and has missed a pair of starts. He didn’t start Sunday’s game (although he did pinch-hit in the ninth), and the two days of rest will likely help his finger immensely.

Last year’s American League batting champion is off to another great start this year. After pacing the AL with 225 hits and a .341 average in 2014, Jose Altuve leads the league with 45 hits, and is sixth with a .338 clip.

A sweep of the Astros will leave the Giants over .500, as well as with an even record on the road. It won’t be easy, as Houston is much, much, much better than the last time these two met.

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