San Francisco Giants Welcome the Braves to Town for Four Games
Following a three-game sweep of the Milwaukee Brewers, the San Francisco Giants ended their road trip with a very nice 5-2 record. The Giants now head back to San Francisco for a seven-game homestand before getting their next off day on June 4th.
The last time the Giants were at home, it was for a very quick three games, which they used to sweep the Los Angeles Dodgers in shutout fashion. San Francisco owns a 14-9 home record, including a 13-3 record since an awful 1-6 start at home. The Atlanta Braves are the Giants’ next opponent, coming to AT&T Park for the first time this year.
The Braves are coming from Los Angeles, where they played three games with the Dodgers. Atlanta dropped the first two, but helped out the Giants on Wednesday by beating Los Angeles 3-2, allowing the Giants to pull within a game of the first-place Dodgers in the NL West. Overall, the Braves are 23-23 on the year, with an 11-13 mark on the road, and are 4.5 game back of the Washington Nationals in the NL East.
San Francisco lost six out of seven contests to the Braves in 2011, but since then, they are 13-7 against Atlanta, including 7-3 at AT&T Park.
Here are the scheduled starters for the four-game set.
Game 1: Chris Heston (4-3, 4.33 ERA) vs. Shelby Miller (5-1, 1.50 ERA)
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Heston has scuffled over the past three weeks. Save for his complete game two-hitter against the Houston Astros, and he’s allowed 16 earned runs in 12.2 innings, and has a 2.605 WHIP. He’s been better at home this year, though. Despite a 1-2 record in four starts at AT&T Park, he’s allowed eight runs in 26 innings.
Heston has never faced the Braves before, and only Cameron Maybin has experience against him while he was with the San Diego Padres. Maybin is 0-1 with a strikeout and a walk.
Miller has been outstanding for the Braves since coming over in an offseason trade with the St. Louis Cardinals. He hasn’t allowed more than two earned runs in any of his nine starts so far, and he narrowly missed a no-hitter against the Miami Marlins on May 17th. He didn’t allow a hit until there was two outs in the ninth. Yusmeiro Petit feels your pain, Shelby. Miller completed the complete game shutout, and is one of two pitchers in baseball with two shutouts so far this year.
Miller is 2-0 in two regular season starts versus the Giants, allowing just two runs in 12.1 innings. He made a start in the NLCS against the Giants in 2014, and allowed six hits and three runs in 3.2 innings.
Nori Aoki is 7-18 (.389) with a home run off Miller. After his incredible series in Milwaukee, Miller is a good pitcher against which to continue his hot streak.
Game 2: Tim Hudson (2-4, 5.04 ERA) vs. Mike Foltynewicz (3-1, 4.25 ERA)
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This will be Hudson’s first start against his former team, but his final season has not gotten off to the kind of start he’d have liked. In his last time out, he gave up eight runs in just 3.2 innings to the Colorado Rockies, but Coors Field has always been a thorn in his side.
Maybin has had good success facing Hudson, going 10-25 (.400) with a home run and six RBI. Nick Markakis is also 4-5 against Hudson.
The 23-year-old rookie Foltynewicz pitched a beauty in his last outing, giving up just one run on three hits and a walk in 7.2 innings, while striking out seven. He has never faced San Francisco, and no one in the Giants’ lineup has seen him before.
Foltynewicz is a young flamethrower, regularly hitting 95 to 97, and has cranked it up into the triple digits before.
Game 3: Tim Lincecum (5-2, 2.56 ERA) vs. Williams Perez (0-0, 4.05 ERA)
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Lincecum should be happy to be heading back home. In his last three road starts, he’s allowed 10 runs in just 13.2 innings, but in the friendly confines of AT&T Park, he’s riding a 22-inning scoreless streak, dating back to April 21st.
Against the Braves, Lincecum is 9-6 with a 2.76 ERA, plus a complete game two-hit shutout in the 2010 NLDS, his first ever postseason start. He’s had a lot of success against a couple Braves’ batters. Maybin is just 4-24 (.167), and Freddie Freeman is 4-19 (.211).
Perez is another rookie, and will be making his third career start. His first two have been outstanding. In 11 innings, he allowed 13 hits, two walks, and a pair of runs while striking out 14, but he has yet to get that elusive first career win.
A sinker-baller by trade, Perez uses his excellent command and mixes of speed to keep hitters off balance, while using his sinker to induce groundballs. That style of pitching should work well in AT&T Park.
Game 4: Madison Bumgarner (6-2, 3.00 ERA) vs. Julio Teheran (4-2, 4.91 ERA)
Bumgarner has gone through his last two starts without his best stuff, but has been able to win both by battling through with his usual warrior spirit.
In his career against Atlanta, Bumgarner is 4-3 with a 3.00 ERA, but has won each of his last four starts against the Bravos, allowing five runs in 25 innings.
Bumgarner will need to be very careful with Jonny Gomes, who is 6-8 (.750) with a pair of home runs against the lefty. Chris Johnson, who was activated from the disabled list on Wednesday, is 6-18 (.333) with two doubles and a triple.
After an All-Star campaign in 2014, Teheran is off to a slow start this year. On Tuesday, his most recent start, he allowed eight runs and 10 hits in just 4.1 innings. Overall in his career versus San Francisco, he’s 2-2 in four starts with a 3.86 ERA. But at the China Basin, he’s allowed seven runs in 10.1 innings.
Buster Posey has enjoyed a lot of success against Teheran, going 7-11 (.636) with two home runs. Brandon Belt will look to continue his string of success with Teheran, as he is 5-9 (.556) with a double and a long ball.
Notes:
Aoki had a fantastic homecoming in Milwaukee. In three games against his first major league team, Aoki went 9-14 (.643) with a home run, two RBI and two runs, and he probably never wanted to leave again. Aoki has gone 68 consecutive plate appearances without striking out, dating back to May 8th. His season strikeout rate is down to 7.8 percent.
With the Braves, the Giants will also welcome old friend, turned rival, turned neutral opponent Juan Uribe back to AT&T. After being traded from the Dodgers, Uribe made his Braves’ debut on Wednesday, and went 0-3 with two strikeouts and a walk.
The shortstop play in this series figures to be absolutely incredible. Defensive wizard Brandon Crawford and the best defensive shortstop in baseball Andrelton Simmons will man the spot on either side, and the highlight reel should be full after this series. Simmons has won the last two Gold Gloves at the position, and has committed just one error in 202 chances (.995 fielding percentage) so far this year.
As the Giants head back home, they’ll look to continue their hot streak, and continue to breathe down the Dodgers’ necks in the division. The Giants can’t control what their rivals are doing, but they can keep their doing own thing. And right now, their own thing is definitely working.