Cain Opens for Giants
The San Francisco Giants look to avoid falling below .500 for the first time in more than three weeks as they seek a split of their four-game series with the Colorado Rockies on Sunday.
The Giants (18-18) climbed above the break-even mark with a season-high eight-game winning streak from April 18-26. They’ve put together consecutive wins just once since then.
Oddsmakers have made San Francisco -125 money line favorites (MLB Odds) for todays game, the over/under has been set at 10 total runs (Matchup). Our public betting information shows that 83% of bets for this game have been placed on Chicago -110 (View MLB Bet Percentages).
San Francisco lost 6-2 to the Rockies (16-21) on Saturday, and have dropped four of its last five, scoring just nine runs in those losses. The Giants now are in danger of having a losing record for the first time since April 20 when they were 7-8.
"Notwithstanding that eight-game (winning) streak, we haven’t played consistently and we need to better our level of consistency – it’s every facet of our game," Rich Aurilia told the team’s official Web site. "Once we get that, we’re going to be fine."
Barry Bonds went 0-for-3 with a walk and scored a run on Saturday. He remains 10 home runs shy of tying Hank Aaron’s career record of 755.
Bonds is 1-for-5 with a double in his career against Sunday’s starter Taylor Buchholz (1-1, 5.82 ERA), but the seven-time MVP will likely get the day off after Saturday’s night game.
Buchholz was roughed up by the Giants on May 1, giving up six runs and eight hits in 3 1-3 innings of a 9-7 win, but is coming off his best start of the season. The right-hander allowed four hits in six scoreless innings of a 4-1 loss to St. Louis on Tuesday, and was not a factor in the decision.
"There’s a lot of positives I’m going to be taking from this game,” he said. "It’s the first time in a long time I’ve been able to slow the game down.”
Buchholz is 0-2 with a 15.43 ERA in three games – two starts – lifetime against San Francisco.
Matt Cain (1-3, 3.40), who looks to bounce back from two subpar outings and continue his success on the road for San Francisco.
After going 1-1 with a 1.54 ERA in five April starts, Cain has lost both of his starts this month, giving up 11 runs in 10 innings in those contests.
On Tuesday, he surrendered doubles to the first three hitters among a season-high 10 hits. He also allowed four runs in seven innings of a 4-1 loss to the New York Mets.
Cain will try to get back on track on the road, where he has given up just two runs and four hits in 20 innings over three starts. He has recorded just one win in those games, though, because of a lack of run support and shaky bullpen.
The right-hander threw seven shutout innings of two-hit ball at Coors Field on April 17, but the bullpen couldn’t hold the lead in a 5-3 loss.
Cain is 3-2 with a 2.66 ERA in seven career starts against the Rockies, and is 0-1 with a 3.93 ERA in three starts in Colorado.
Rockies left fielder Matt Holliday is 4-for-14 with two home runs in his career against Cain, and went 2-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs in his seventh career multihomer game on Saturday.
Holliday is 7-for-16 in his last four games, and all of those hits have gone for extra bases – three home runs, three doubles and a triple.
by: Michael Cash – thespread.com – Email Us
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