Arizona @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 18, 2015 ) Arizona 2, San Francisco 0

The San Francisco Giants can't afford too many more stumbles before they face the reality of being eliminated from the playoff race. San Francisco stands 8 1/2 games behind the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West and nine games behind the Chicago Cubs for the second wild card entering Saturday's home game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.

The Giants wasted Madison Bumgarner's latest fine effort in the series opener as they had two hits while falling 2-0 to the Diamondbacks. It continued a season-long trend of struggling at home against Arizona as San Francisco dropped to 1-7 against the Diamondbacks at AT&T Park. Center fielder A.J. Pollock had two hits Friday and five over the last two games, and is 5-for-8 against scheduled Giants starter Mike Leake. Giants catcher Buster Posey is batting .392 in September and is 9-for-25 against scheduled Diamondbacks starter Patrick Corbin.

TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FSN Arizona, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Diamondbacks LH Patrick Corbin (5-4, 3.29 ERA) vs. Giants RH Mike Leake (10-8, 3.72)

Corbin won four consecutive decisions before falling to the Los Angeles Dodgers in his last turn. He gave up two runs and eight hits in six innings against Los Angeles and didn't walk a batter for the third consecutive start. Corbin pitched six innings of six-hit shutout ball to beat the Giants on Sept. 7 and is 3-4 with a 3.79 ERA in 10 career starts against them.

Leake was 0-3 in his first five starts for San Francisco before defeating the San Diego Padres in his last turn. He has a 4.34 ERA with the Giants after going 9-5 with a 3.56 ERA in 21 starts with the Cincinnati Reds before being dealt. Leake is 4-1 with a 5.36 ERA in eight career starts against Arizona and the loss came when he gave up six runs and 11 hits in 5 1/3 innings earlier this month when matched against Corbin.

WALK-OFFS

1. Giants RF Marlon Byrd is 3-for-19 over the past five games after having eight hits in his previous three appearances.

2. Arizona 1B Paul Goldschmidt reached base four times on two hits and two walks in the opener but is 2-for-18 against Leake.

3. San Francisco SS Brandon Crawford (calf, side) was hitless in three at-bats Friday after missing the previous seven games.

PREDICTION: Giants 4, Diamondbacks 2