Arizona @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Sep 8, 2010 ) San Francisco 1, Arizona 3
It promises to be a frantic final week for the San Francisco Giants, who continue their search for their first playoff spot in seven years when they open a home series with the Arizona Diamondbacks on Tuesday night.
The Giants lead the NL West by one game over San Diego and finish the season with six consecutive home games, including a three-game weekend set with the Padres.
The loser of the NL West race is vying for a wild-card spot with the Atlanta Braves, adding even more pressure and intensity to an already tense situation.
San Francisco hasn't been part of the postseason since 2003 and the Giants are craving a chance to end the drought. The last-place Diamondbacks might be seen as the perfect tonic to help with that cause, but Arizona has refused to fold its tent.
The Diamondbacks have won five of their last six games and are playing hard for interim manager Kirk Gibson. Arizona simply isn’t playing like a team that is 28 games below .500.
The Giants need only to look back at a late August home series as a reminder as Arizona won two of three at AT&T Park.
Jonathan Sanchez starts Tuesday’s opener and the left-hander will be seeking to continue San Francisco’s September staple of good pitching.
The Giants have allowed three runs or less in 19 or their last 20 games, including an 18-game stretch that was the best in baseball dating back to the 1917 Chicago White Sox.
Sanchez has an even better string of stellar pitching outings going with five straight starts of allowing one earned run or less. Sanchez has allowed three earned runs in his last 32 2/3 innings.
In two starts against Arizona this season, Sanchez is 1-0 with a 1.80 ERA. He has 17 strikeouts in just 10 innings.
Sanchez (11-9, 3.16 ERA) struck out 12 Los Angeles Dodgers in seven innings two starts ago and needs to fan just six more batters to post the first 200-strikeout season of his career.
Sanchez is 5-6 lifetime against Arizona with a 4.71 ERA.
Rodrigo Lopez starts for the Diamondbacks and the right-hander has never beaten San Francisco in five career starts.
Lopez is 0-2 with a 7.46 ERA and is winless in three 2010 starts against the Giants. He has allowed 14 runs in 16 innings for an atrocious 7.88 ERA.
Lopez (7-14, 5.04 ERA) has endured a rough season, but has defeated the NL Central-leading Cincinnati Reds and Colorado Rockies in his last two starts.
San Francisco third baseman Pablo Sandoval, who is batting just .163 in September, is a career .400 hitter against Lopez. Sandoval has a homer and three doubles in 10 at-bats against Lopez.
The Giants could be without hot-hitting second baseman Freddy Sanchez (.341 since the beginning of August) due to shoulder pain.
Arizona’s Kelly Johnson has a .583 average (7-for-12) against Jonathan Sanchez while third baseman Mark Reynolds has struggled with 14 strikeouts and only a .160 average in 25 at-bats.
Reynolds (team-high 32 homers) missed Arizona’s last two games with a thumb injury.