San Diego @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( May 12, 2010 ) San Diego 5, San Francisco 2
Pablo Sandoval was one of the hottest hitters in baseball when the month of April ended. He’s been one of the coldest batters in the game in May.
The San Francisco Giants was third baseman was hitting .368 when the month began but has seen his average plummet 88 points over the first 12 days of May.
Sandoval will once again attempt to revive his batting stroke on Thursday afternoon when the Giants conclude a three-game series with the visiting San Diego Padres. The first-place Padres won the first two games of the series.
Sandoval is batting just .111 (5-of-45) in May with one RBI. He hasn’t homered since April 21.
He’ll take a .280 average into Thursday’s game and has three homers and 11 RBIs for a team that is struggling to score runs and is relying on strong starting pitching.
The switch-hitting Sandoval was a major surprise last season when he hit .330 with 25 homers and 90 RBIs. He’s on pace for just 15 homers and 55 RBIs this season.
His recent hitting woes are magnified with the Giants missing shortstop Edgar Renteria (groin), outfielder Mark DeRosa (wrist) and second baseman Freddy Sanchez (shoulder). Renteria has been on the disabled list since May 7, DeRosa is having major issues with the same wrist that prompted off-season surgery, and Sanchez has yet to play this season.
Sanchez, the 2006 National League batting champion with the Pittsburgh Pirates, recently started a rehab assignment and is about a week to 10 days away from joining the Giants.
Meanwhile, the Padres are beating up the Giants with five wins and no losses against them this year.
San Diego swept a three-game home series in April in addition to winning the first two games of the current series.
The Padres have used speed and pitching to frustrate the Giants – a season-long formula that has them owning the best record (21-12) in the National League.
San Diego sends Mat Latos (2-3, 4.19 earned-run average) to the mound Thursday and he’s coming off a fantastic outing in which he shut out the Houston Astros on two hits over eight innings. Latos struck out nine and didn’t walk a batter.
Latos’ second-best outing came against the Giants on April 20 when he allowed four hits over seven scoreless innings in San Diego’s 1-0 victory.
Left-hander Jonathan Sanchez (2-2) will be on the hill for San Francisco and Sanchez took the loss in the game won by Latos despite allowing just one hit over seven innings.
Sanchez, of course, threw a no-hitter against the Padres last season.
He enters Thursday’s game with a 3.00 ERA over six starts. He has struck out 40 batters and allowed just 24 hits in 36 innings.
San Diego’s top two hitters are among the players who have struggled against Sanchez. All-Star first baseman Adrian Gonzalez is hitting .200 against Sanchez and has struck out 10 times in 25 career at-bats. Third baseman Chase Headley (.311 this season) is just 1-for-11 (.091) with five strikeouts against Sanchez.