San Diego @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 21, 2014 ) San Francisco 2, San Diego 8

One day after watching their bitter rival celebrate a division title, the San Francisco Giants have a chance of their own to wrap up a playoff berth when they host the San Diego Padres on Thursday night in the opener of a four-game series. The Giants hold a four-game lead over Milwaukee with four games to play and have a magic number of one to advance to the postseason. San Francisco is also in a battle for the top wild card, trailing Pittsburgh by one game.

Losers of five of their last six, the Giants need to get their offense untracked after scoring two runs or fewer in nine of their last 11 games. The Padres are coming off an 8-2 homestand to finish the season 48-33 at Petco Park, but that success has not translated to the road, where San Diego owns the second-worst record in the majors at 28-49. The league's lowest-scoring team swept a three-game series from the Giants last weekend and leads the season series 10-5.

TV: 10:10 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco), FSN San Diego

PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Yusmeiro Petit (5-5, 3.63 ERA) vs. Padres RH Andrew Cashner (5-7, 2.21)

Petit came out on the short end of a 3-2 decision to Cashner and the Padres on Saturday, lasting 5 1/3 innings and yielding three runs (two earned). He also took the loss in his previous turn, giving up four runs (three earned) over seven innings against division rival Los Angeles. Petit made his first start of the season against San Diego in late April and limited the Padres to four hits over six scoreless innings.

Cashner was within three outs of his second consecutive shutout before giving up a pair runs in the ninth inning of the 3-2 victory over San Francisco. He went the distance in his previous outing, blanking Philadelphia on two hits for his second complete game of the season. Cashner is unbeaten in his last six home starts, giving up a total of six earned runs, but the Padres have scored only 14 runs in that span.

WALK-OFFS

1. Giants C Buster Posey is 16-for-50 against the Padres this season and is batting .338 with 12 homers and 45 RBIs in 60 career games against them.

2. San Diego is a major league-best 33-20 in one-run games.

3. Giants RF Hunter Pence is 1-for-29 over his last seven games.

PREDICTION: Padres 3, Giants