San Francisco Giants Head Back Home to Face Diamondbacks
It’s hard to be disappointed with a 4-2 road trip, especially when it’s your third winning road trip in a row, but the San Francisco Giants easily could have ended their most recent road trip undefeated in six games. The two losses, both in series finales, came in late-inning losses that ruined dreams of a sweep. Still, a winning road trip is nothing to be ashamed of.
The Giants got the short-end of the travel stick on Thursday, as the final game with the New York Mets was a night game. The contest ended around 10:15 eastern time, and the Giants promptly hopped a flight back to the west coast to start a short five-game homestand. Luckily, the first game on Friday is a night game, so the Giants will get a little extra rest time.
That homestand kicks off with a three-game swing with the Arizona Diamondbacks, who were off on Thursday and in San Francisco before the Giants were. These will be the Giants’ first divisional games this month, and first since the four-game series in Colorado that seemingly lasted an entire week.
The Giants enter the series 34-27, 1.5 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers for first in the NL West. Arizona is 27-32, in the midst of a four-game losing streak, and are 7.5 games behind the Dodgers, tied for last in the West.
San Francisco is 16-14 at AT&T Park this season, but they have been outscored 101-96 at home. Arizona is 12-16 on the road, but has won three out of four in San Francisco.
Here are the scheduled starters for the three games.
Game 1: Madison Bumgarner (7-2, 3.38 ERA) vs. Chase Anderson (1-1, 3.12 ERA)
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Despite a great record and some really solid numbers, we’ve still yet to see the best of Bumgarner. He had absolutely great stuff against the Phillies in his last outing, but baseball is weird, and he gave up five runs (solo home run, grand slam).
Bumgarner will be making his 20th career start against the Diamondbacks, and owns a 7-4 record with a 2.76 ERA and 1.160 WHIP. He’s had a good measure of success against the Diamondbacks’ big slugger, Paul Goldschmidt. Goldschmidt is 6-31 (.194) against Bumgarner, but with two doubles and two home runs. This season, Goldschmidt is 1-6 (.167), but the one hit is a three-run home run.
Some of Arizona’s role players could play a key part against Bumgarner. Ender Inciarte and Nick Ahmed each own a .400 average against San Francisco’s ace.
Anderson, a second-year righty, will be making his 12th start of the year, but has only been part of two decisions. He’s pitched very well this year so far, allowing more than two earned runs just twice.
In 21 starts in 2014, his rookie year, Anderson didn’t face the Giants, and has yet to this year either. The only Giants’ hitter who has past experience with Anderson is Casey McGehee, who had three hits in six at-bats off Anderson in 2014 with the Miami Marlins.
Game 2: Ryan Vogelsong (4-4, 4.52 ERA) vs. Josh Collmenter (3-6, 5.24 ERA)
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After a great May, Vogelsong’s June has gotten off to a sluggish start. He’s allowed 17 baserunners and nine runs to score in 12.2 innings. Vogelsong has been much better at AT&T Park this year, posting a 2.25 ERA and 1.036 WHIP.
Arizona has always been a tough assignment for Vogelsong. He’s 3-7 with a 4.85 ERA and 1.562 WHIP against the Snakes in his career. Aaron Hill, in particular, has been his nemesis, going 15-33 (.455) with four doubles and two home runs. David Peralta is getting to that level as well, as he is 5-9 (.556) against Vogelsong. Just this season, Peralta has three hits, two doubles and a home run, in four at-bats facing Vogelsong.
The last time Collmenter took the mound against the Giants, he threw a complete game shutout, the second of his career. In the nine starts since then, he’s given up 34 runs in 50 innings, including a dozen home runs.
In 20 games and nine starts versus the Giants, Collmenter owns a 3.07 ERA and 1.145 WHIP. He’s never lost at AT&T Park, going 3-0 and surrendering just three runs in 28 innings.
This season against Collmenter, Angel Pagan is 4-6 (.667) against Collmenter while Joe Panik is 5-7 (.714). Each have a pair of doubles. On the other hand, Brandon Belt and Buster Posey are a combined 0-11.
Game 3: Chris Heston (6-4, 3.77 ERA) vs. Rubby De La Rosa (4-3, 5.84 ERA)
How exactly does a pitcher follow up throwing a no-hitter? That’s the task Heston faces in the series finale. Heston threw the first no-hitter of 2015 against the Mets, going from anonymous rookie to media darling in three hours and nine innings.
Heston made his 2015 debut against these very same Diamondbacks, and asserted himself into prominence by throwing six innings and giving up just two runs (neither earned) to earn his first career win. Two starts later, he faced them again, and threw 7.2 innings of one-run ball to win again.
The only Diamondbacks hitter to have real success against Heston was Goldschmidt (surprising, right?), and he has gone 2-5 (.400) with two doubles.
De La Rosa has been roughed up this season, particularly in his last four starts. In 21 innings over that span, he’s allowed 24 runs. That’s been exacerbated in the last two starts, as he’s allowed 16 runs in 10 innings.
Against the Giants this year, De La Rosa is 1-1, but has allowed 10 runs in 12 innings. Nori Aoki is 3-7 (.429) with two doubles, Posey is 4-6 (.667) with a home run, and Brandon Crawford is 2-6 (.333), but both hits have left the ballpark.
Notes:
Aoki is making a legitimate All-Star push after a huge road trip. After missing the first game in Philadelphia with the flu, Aoki went 12-22 (.545) and scored six times over the next five contests. He’s currently in the middle of a streak of 28 straight plate appearances without striking out. Earlier in the season, he went 85 consecutive strikeout-less plate appearances. At the last update, Aoki was fourth in voting for National League outfielders.
Speaking of All-Stars, Brandon Crawford is having himself quite the season, and the world is finally starting to take notice of just how good he really is. On Thursday, he hit his ninth home run, tying him the team’s lead with Buster Posey, and drove in his 40th run. He’s still on pace to crack 100 RBI this year. He continues to kill lefties, hitting .422 with three home runs and 14 RBI.
The last time these two teams met, the Giants were in a very bad place, and lost three out of four in the series to make it nine losses in 10 games overall. These Giants are very different, playing with a lot of confidence and swagger that was absent earlier. Now, they’ll look to feast on the NL West bottom feeders, and continue to try and cut the gap to the first-place Dodgers.