Colorado @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( May 22, 2014 ) San Francisco 4, Colorado 2

The Colorado Rockies are slowly pulling out of a deep slump thanks to a pair of stellar starting pitching performances and the continued strong efforts of the offense. The Rockies will attempt to post their third straight victory when they visit the San Francisco Giants on Friday for the start of a six-game road trip. The major league-best Giants snapped out of a rare three-game losing streak with a victory on Thursday.

The Rockies piled up 28 runs in the last three games but finally got the strong starting pitching performances they needed from Tyler Matzek and Jhoulys Chacin on Wednesday and Thursday to break out of a string of 11 losses in 12 games by posting back-to-back wins. Colorado could be looking at a suspension to reliever Nick Masset after a bean-ball incident on Thursday which began when Corey Dickerson caught Atlanta catcher Gerald Laird on the mask with his backswing. San Francisco finally found its offense on Thursday as Michael Morse and Hunter Pence recorded three hits apiece in a 7-1 win over Washington.

TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, ROOT (Colorado), CSN Bay Area (San Francisco)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rockies LH Jorge De La Rosa (6-5, 4.04 ERA) vs. Giants RH Tim Lincecum (5-4, 4.97)

De La Rosa dropped his last two decisions and was knocked around for five runs on four hits and four walks in 5 1/3 innings against the Dodgers on Sunday. The 33-year-old had surrendered three or fewer earned runs in each of his previous nine outings. De La Rosa worked three no-hit innings in a rain-interrupted contest against San Francisco on May 22 but was reached for a season-high six runs over 4 1/3 innings to suffer a loss at the Giants on April 11.

Lincecum bounced back from a terrible outing by holding the New York Mets to three runs on six hits in six innings on Sunday. The former Cy Young Award winner surrendered two home runs in that start, matching his total from the previous eight starts. Lincecum missed the Rockies last time around and is 11-9 with a 3.96 ERA in 27 career starts against the division rivals.

WALK-OFFS

1. Rockies SS Troy Tulowitzki got a scheduled day off on Thursday and is expected to return to the lineup on Friday.

2. San Francisco 3B Pablo Sandoval returned to the starting lineup on Thursday and went 1-for-3 with an RBI after being limited to pinch-hitting duty Wednesday due to illness.

3. Colorado 1B Justin Morneau is 6-for-12 with six RBIs in the last three games.

PREDICTION: Giants 5, Rockies 4