San Francisco Giants Finish up Road Trip with Three in Milwaukee
After 12 hours and 11 minutes of baseball action, plus seven hours and minutes of official delays over the weekend, the San Francisco Giants are finally out of Denver, Colorado. Although, it’s doubtful that Charlie Blackmon‘s walk-up song will be out of our heads anytime soon.
The Giants and Colorado Rockies split the four-game set, as the Giants took the first two, and the Rockies claimed the last two, snapping the Giants’ eight-game win streak in the process. San Francisco is still in pretty good shape right now, despite those two defeats. At 25-20, the Giants are still in second place in the NL West, just two games back from the Los Angeles Dodgers, and hold the second wildcard spot.
The Giants are now heading to Wisconsin for some cheese, adult beverages, and a three-game series with the Milwaukee Brewers. The Brewers are off to a rough start, owning 16-29 record, the worst mark in the National League. They have been better lately, though.
The Brewers started the season 7-18, at which point manager Ron Roenicke was fired. Since Craig Counsell took over, the team is 9-10. We’re still waiting for someone to adopt Counsell’s signature batting stance, however.
Milwaukee is 8-15 at Miller Park this season, and the Giants are 11-11 on the road. Miller Park has not been kind to the Giants recently. Since sweeping four games there in 2010, they have won just four times in the last 12 games.
Though the Giants have experienced a lot of good luck recently, there seems to be a dark cloud following the team. More specifically, a rain cloud is following them. After having each game in the four-game set in Denver delayed by rain, there is rain in the forecast for each day the Giants are in Milwaukee. Luckily, Miller Park has a roof, so there will be no more weather delays this week (knock on wood).
Here are the scheduled starters for this series.
Game 1: Tim Lincecum (4-2, 2.08 ERA) vs. Kyle Lohse (3-4, 5.33 ERA)
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Lincecum is off to a tremendous start, but games away from AT&T Park have given him some trouble. Since throwing seven shutout innings in San Diego to start the season, he’s allowed 21 baserunners and seven runs in 8.2 innings in two starts on the road.
Miller Park has been somewhat kind to Lincecum. In five starts, he is 3-1 with a 3.66 ERA. His new-found groundball pitcher status will come in handy in the hitter-friendly park.
One big task for Lincecum will be to eat up some innings. The Giants’ bullpen worked hard over the weekend, and with another 10 games before their next day off, they will likely need all eight relief pitchers.
After two really solid years with the Brewers, the 15-year veteran Lohse is off to a rough start. His last two outings have been much improved, as he’s allowed just two runs and 12 baserunners in 14 innings.
Lohse has seven career starts against the Giants, and is 3-3 with a 4.70 ERA. Angel Pagan has some ownage on Lohse, going 6-14 (.429) against him. Hunter Pence has squared off with Lohse a lot, and is 16-50 (.320) with four doubles and a triple.
Game 2: Madison Bumgarner (5-2, 2.84 ERA) vs. Matt Garza (2-6, 5.71 ERA)
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After a couple of rough starts early in the year, it seems like the ace is back, and he’s brought his lumber. Against the Dodgers his last time out, he threw 6.1 shutout innings, giving up seven hits and two walks. He didn’t have his best stuff that night, but he pitched through it, and helped his own cause with his first home run of the year, an absolute bomb off Clayton Kershaw.
In two games at Miller Park, Bumgarner has allowed just one run in 15.2 innings. Ryan Braun has good numbers against Bumgarner, going 6-20 (.300) with two doubles and two home runs.
Garza is not exactly off to a great start, but his numbers are a bit skewed by his last two starts. Against the New York Mets, he allowed 10 runs in just 3.1 innings, then gave up four runs in 6.1 innings to the Atlanta Braves, both losses.
Despite being in his 10th season, Garza has only faced the Giants twice. In 12.2 innings, he has allowed four runs, and has a 1-1 record. Pence is 4-15 (.267) against Garza, the most at-bats among Giants’ hitters.
Game 3: Ryan Vogelsong (3-2, 4.60 ERA) vs. Wily Peralta (1-5, 4.00 ERA)
Vogelsong continues his mini resurgence with another solid start against the Rockies. He went 6 shutout innings, and allowed just a pair of hits and three walks. He’s been excellent in his past four starts, lowering his season ERA from 9.31 to 4.60 over that span.
Vogelsong has never lost at Miller Park in seven games (five starts). He’s 2-0 with a 3.38 EA and 32 innings pitched. Aramis Ramirez has had good numbers against him, going 8-24 (.333) with two home runs.
Peralta left his last start after just four innings with tightness in his right side, and his status for this outing is a mystery. He is still listed as the scheduled starter, so let’s work off the assumption he will pitch.
He faced the Giants twice last season, and the two starts were night and day. In the first, he went 6.2 innings, allowing just one run while striking out nine. In the last, he went just three innings, and gave up nine hits and six runs with only one punchout.
Pagan is 6-10 (.600) against Peralta, and Buster Posey is 5-9. However, this could all be moot if Peralta’s injury forces him to miss time.
Notes:
This series will be something of a homecoming for Nori Aoki. He broke into the big leagues in 2012 with the Brewers after a long career in Japan. Aoki spent two very nice seasons in Milwaukee, hitting .287 with 57 doubles, 18 home runs, 161 runs scored and 50 stolen bases. He is a .290 hitter at Miller Park, with nine of his 20 career home runs.
Buster Posey is riding a much-needed hot streak. He owns a 16-game hitting streak, going 23-63 (.365) in the process. Posey will have a great chance to extend that hitting streak against the Brewers. In 12 games at Miller Park, Posey is 16-42 (.381) with six home runs and 15 RBI.
The Brewers will be short a couple key players in this series. Jonathan Lucroy, who finished fourth in NL MVP voting in 2014, is on the disabled list with a fractured toe, and exciting young shortstop Jean Segura‘s fractured finger has him on the shelf as well.
After a terrible start, the Giants have really turned things around. The Brewers are in the middle of a bad stretch, but they’re looking for a Giants-like renaissance, trying to get their act together and make a run in the NL Central. It won’t be easy, as there are a lot of forces working against them. The Giants, working with an 16-6 record in the month of May, are one of those obstacles for now.