Colorado @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Aug 4, 2010 ) San Francisco 1, Colorado 6
The Colorado Rockies have moved back into the race for the National League wild card with a week-long hot streak.
They have the opportunity to make up more ground over the next three days when they visit the San Francisco Giants, one of the teams they are chasing.
The Rockies have won six of seven games entering the key series and are 4 1/2 games behind the Philadelphia Phillies, the current wild-card leaders. Colorado is just three games behind the Giants, their NL West rivals.
San Francisco ended a three-game losing streak by defeating the Arizona Diamondbacks on Sunday. The Giants are five games in back of the first-place San Diego Padres in the division race.
But with just 31 contests remaining, a wild-card berth figures to be San Francisco’s best chance at a playoff spot. And suddenly, the Rockies are a viable threat despite a brutal 25-40 road record.
Colorado outfielder Carlos Gonzalez has thrust his name into the National League Most Valuable Player conversation as he continues his torrid hitting. Gonzalez homered twice and had four RBIs during Sunday’s victory over the Los Angeles Dodgers to up his season totals to 29 homers and 90 RBIs to go with a league-leading .326 batting average.
Gonzalez has eight homers and 22 RBIs in August and has gone 12-for-22 (.545) with four homers, four doubles and 11 RBIs over the last six games.
However, Gonzalez is 0-for-8 lifetime against San Francisco left-hander Jonathan Sanchez (9-8, 3.67 ERA), who will get the ball in Monday’s series opener.
Sanchez has struggled mightily against Colorado with a 3-4 career mark and 6.05 ERA. This season has gone better, however, as Sanchez is 1-1 with a 2.53 ERA.
The hurler has just two victories over his previous nine starts and lasted just 4 1/3 innings against the Cincinnati Reds in his most recent outing. In that contest, Sanchez allowed three homers while giving up five runs and six hits.
Colorado will counter with Jorge De La Rosa, who is 6-0 with a 2.79 ERA in 10 appearances - seven starts - against the Giants.
De La Rosa (5-4, 4.54 ERA) defeated the Atlanta Braves in his last start when he gave up two runs and six hits in seven innings.
Giants second baseman Freddy Sanchez is in the midst of a hot streak in which he has batted .625 (15-of-24) over the past six games. In addition, Sanchez is batting .429 in 14 career at-bats against De La Rosa.
Troy Tulowitzki (.412 in 17 career at-bats) is the Colorado player who has enjoyed the most success against Jonathan Sanchez. Tulowitzki brings a 10-game hitting streak into the series.
Rockies center fielder Dexter Fowler had two triples on Sunday to raise his major-league leading total to 12 and also set a franchise single-season record.
San Francisco catcher Buster Posey (.329) has missed the past two games with an elbow injury and will return at some point during the Colorado series.