h. They lead the NL

panxing18 · Geregistreerd op: 23 Jun 2018 Berichten: 137

SAN FRANCISCO — San Francisco Giants left-hander Andrew Suarez will seek to reverse a trend of pitching in bad luck when the faces the San Diego Padres on Saturday afternoon on the third day of a four-game series.

Suarez (2-4 Zack Smith Jersey , 4.70 ERA), who has just one decision (a win) in his last five starts, is coming off back-to-back outings that were mirror images of one another.

Facing the Miami Marlins on both occasions, Suarez was pulled in the sixth and seventh innings of his last two starts, both times having held the opponent to two runs and both times exiting with a lead.

But the Marlins rallied against the Giants’ bullpen each time, pulling out a 5-4 win in both games.

The rookie has allowed three earned runs or fewer six times this season, yet has only two wins to show for it.

One of those six games occurred the only time he faced the Padres.

Lo and behold, he pitched seven innings in that May 1 game, allowing two runs, and left a 2-2 tie. The Giants went on to lose 3-2.

He’s 0-0 with a 2.57 ERA against the Padres.

Suarez can expect to see a bit of a different look from San Diego on Saturday, as Padres manager Andy Green indicated Friday that he’s strongly considering moving Manuel Margot back to the leadoff spot against the left-hander.

Green put Wil Myers atop his lineup card Thursday night against another lefty, Giants ace Madison Bumgarner, and it did not go well. Myers went hitless and the Padres got shut out 3-0.

Batting seventh against a right-hander on Friday night, Margot had two hits and two RBIs in San Diego’s 6-2 win.

He has raised his average to .245 after having spent much of the first two months below .200. He batted leadoff 15 times in that early stretch.

“He’s settled in so comfortably in that seven spot, I haven’t wanted to make an adjustment with him,” said Green, noting he came close to penciling him back into the leadoff spot Thursday. “It’s been such a push for us to get him going that once he’s gotten going, it has seemed prudent to leave him alone down there in the seven hole.

“I do think sometime in the near future you’re going to see him back toward the top, against left-handed pitching especially.”

Margot, the club’s leadoff hitter on Opening Day, hit just .156 atop the lineup before getting demoted in May. He has hit .333 while batting seventh.

Another decision Green will have to make Saturday is what to do with third baseman Cory Spangenberg, who contributed two hits and two runs to Friday’s win.

Spangenberg has hit safely in a personal-best 11 straight starts but hasn’t been starting lately against left-handed pitchers, against whom he is batting just .143 this season.

The Padres will send right-hander Jordan Lyles (2-4, 4.46) to the mound hoping he can snap a three-game skid, during which he has allowed 13 runs in 17 1/3 innings.

Lyles pitched three times out of the bullpen in earlier meetings with the Giants, limiting them to one hit and no runs in 4 2/3 innings.

That was quite a contrast to the last time he started against San Francisco, which was in an 8-0 loss in September. He gave up seven runs and 10 hits in 3 2/3 innings.

Lyles has faced the Giants 17 times in his career, seven times as a starter, going 3-3 with a 6.11 ERA.

LOS ANGELES — The third start of Madison Bumgarner’s return to the San Francisco Giants‘ rotation after a broken finger will take the left-hander to a mound where he knows success.

Bumgarner will square off with Dodgers left-hander Alex Wood in the middle game of a three-game series on Saturday at Dodger Stadium.

It is a venue Bumgarner knows well Brandon Manning Jersey , having pitched there 18 times, 17 of which have been starts. He has a career 2.31 ERA in L.A. and gave up just one run in two starts in the Dodgers’ home park last season.

Add in the fact that the rivalry game will be televised nationally and all the elements to shine appear to be in place for Bumgarner (0-1, 4.76 ERA), who showed his feisty side in an outing earlier this week at Miami when he was ejected upon departing the game.

“My stuff is good enough to get people out right now; I’ve just got to execute,” Bumgarner told mlb.com after he was ejected for giving a piece of his mind to home-plate umpire Jeremie Rehak.

The mild-mannered Wood (1-5, 4.43) might be ready to show an edgier side as well. The left-hander has given up a combined 15 runs (13 earned) in his last three starts and has pitched just 11 innings in those outings.

Dodgers manager Dave Roberts has already been asked if Wood is in danger of losing his starting spot, but he remains confident in the All-Star from a year ago. But left-hander Rich Hill (blister) looks close to a return from the disabled list after a solid minor league rehab start and could possibly force Wood from the rotation.

To Wood’s credit, he has remained confident, not sounding like a pitcher who needs to prove himself against the Giants on Saturday.

“There’s a lot of baseball left to be played,” Wood said, according to the Los Angeles Times. “I can promise you that, when we get down that stretch, I’ll be playing my best baseball of the year.”

As a team, the Dodgers (36-32) are doing just that. For a month, the defending National League champions have looked more like the team that roared into the 2017 World Series, only to lose in seven games to the Houston Astros.

The Dodgers will enter Saturday having won 10 of their 12 games in June while posting a 20-6 record since May 17. They hit two more home runs Friday and now have 32 in June, by far the most in baseball during the month. They lead the NL with 88 home runs this season.

When that 20-6 run began, the Dodgers were in fourth place in the NL West, eight games back, and the Giants were in third place, and four games back.

After the Dodgers’ 3-2 victory over the Giants on Friday, L.A. was in second place, 2 1/2 games back, and the Giants (34-36) were in fourth place, 5 1/2 games back and just a half game in front of the last-place San Diego Padres.

Pablo Sandoval homered Friday night for the Giants, who fell to 3-5 on their three-city, 10-game road trip.

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