The San Francisco Giants hope to keep their dwindling
postseason chances alive tonight, when they begin a three-game series versus
the NL West-rival Arizona Diamondbacks at AT&T Park.
The Giants are five games behind Colorado in the race for the final playoff
spot in the National League with six games to play. They ended a three-game
losing streak and won for just the third time in nine tries with Sunday's 5-1
triumph over the Chicago Cubs in the finale of a four-game series by the Bay.
Matt Cain got back in the win column with eight shutout innings of three-hit
ball and struck out eight to improve to 14-7 this season. Brian Wilson came on
to get the final out of the game for his 37th save for the Giants, who haven't
reached the playoffs since the 2003 season.
"I wasn't expecting that from Cain, maybe that's what Bruce Bochy was
expecting from Cain," Cubs skipper Lou Piniella said. "I was hoping that we
could get to him. He had a good day. He's a good pitcher -- one of the top
right-hander's in the league."
Bochy will go with a left-hander Tuesday, as Jonathan Sanchez is slated to
take the hill against the D-Backs. Sanchez just beat Arizona in his last start
on September 23 and fired 5 1/3 innings of two-run ball in a 5-2 victory,
improving to 7-12 with a 4.25 ERA in 30 games (27 starts) in 2009.
Sanchez, who was 0-2 in five outings before his latest win, owns a 3-6 mark
and a 5.24 ERA in 14 career games (11 starts) against the Diamondbacks.
Arizona will commence a season-ending six-game road trip Tuesday against the
Giants and Cubs, and has won two in a row. It won the final two tests of a
three-game series versus the Padres, including Sunday's 7-4 triumph behind
seven solid innings of four-run ball from winning pitcher Billy Buckner.
Juan Gutierrez earned his eighth save with 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief
and Chad Tracy ended with three hits, including a home run, for Arizona. Augie
Ojeda went 3-for-4 with three RBI and two runs scored in a winning cause.
Taking the ball for the D-Backs tonight will be Doug Davis, who was 0-3 in
seven trips to the hill before beating San Francisco the previous time out on
September 22 in a 10-8 win. Davis allowed five runs and 10 hits in 7 1/3
innings to push his 2009 record to 8-13 with a 4.09 ERA in 32 starts.
The southpaw is 5-7 with a 4.57 ERA in 19 career meetings (18 starts) with the
Giants, who are 10-5 against Arizona this season. San Francisco is 4-2 as the
host in this season's series.
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