Texas @ San Francisco preview

Last Meeting ( Mar 5, 2018 ) San Francisco 4, Texas 5

The San Francisco Giants are drifting out of the postseason race in the National League while the Texas Rangers are sitting in last place - both far from the two pennant winners that met in the 2010 World Series. The teams will renew acquaintances this weekend, when the Giants host the Rangers in the opener of a three-game interleague series on Friday.

San Francisco, which beat Texas in five games in that 2010 World Series, sits nine games behind the first-place Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West and eight out of the second NL wild card spot after a seven-game road trip that saw it drop five games against teams with losing records. The Giants did manage to salvage the finale of a four-game set at the New York Mets on Thursday to avoid a series loss, leaning on Madison Bumgarner's arm and bat to earn the 3-1 victory. The Rangers were shut out in back-to-back contests at the Oakland Athletics this week to begin the six-game road trip but avoided a sweep with a 4-2 triumph on Wednesday and will play their next five games against NL opponents, with the Los Angeles Dodgers set to visit for a two-game series on Tuesday and Wednesday. Texas will send right-hander Drew Hutchison to the mound on Friday while San Francisco is expected to bring rookie righty Dereck Rodriguez off the disabled list to face his Hall of Fame father's former team.

TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FS Southwest (Texas), NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Rangers RH Drew Hutchison (2-2, 5.71 ERA) vs. Giants RH Dereck Rodriguez (6-1, 2.25)

Hutchison earned his first win for Texas against the Los Angeles Angels last Friday, when he struck out six and surrendered two runs on five hits and a walk over five innings. The 28-year-old, who made 11 relief appearances for the Philadelphia Phillies earlier this season, last worked as a full-time starter in the majors for the Toronto Blue Jays in 2015. Hutchison did not yield a home run against the Angels after serving up a total of three blasts in his first two starts.

Rodriguez is hoping to return from a strained hamstring just as strong as he was before the injury, when he ripped off a string of nine straight starts allowing two or fewer earned runs. The 26-year-old, who is the son of Hall of Fame catcher and Rangers legend Ivan Rodriguez, last worked against Pittsburgh on Aug. 12 and allowed one run on two hits and a walk across seven innings to pick up the win. Rodriguez is seeing the Rangers for the first time in his career and yielded a total of one run in 13 1/3 innings against two other AL West squads - Oakland and Houston.

WALK-OFFS

1. Rangers 3B Adrian Beltre (hamstring) served as the DH in each of the last three games.

2. San Francisco 3B Evan Longoria homered in two of the last three games and hit safely in six straight.

3. Texas RHP Jose Leclerc yielded a total of three hits and no runs over 11 scoreless innings across his last 11 appearances.

PREDICTION: Giants 5, Rangers 1