Bumgarner Looks to Continue His Success Against Rockies on Saturday Night: Preview, Notes, Lineups

Giants' manager Bruce Bochy will be sticking with the same lineup that scored a season-high 16 runs on Friday night against Rockies' southpaw Jeff Francis tonight.

Jeff Francis will get the task of slowing down a Giants' offense that has scored at least four runs in eight straight games at Coors Field and in 11 of their last 13 contests in Colorado. A trip to Coors field seems to be just what he doctor ordered for the Giants, after struggling to score runs on their recent 10-game homestand.

Francis, who surrendered five runs on six hits against the Cardinals on Tuesday, will be facing the Giants for the first time this season, and 17th time in his career. In 16 previous career starts against them, he's 7-6 with a 4.83 ERA in nearly 100 innings pitched. Additionally,  if he gets the win tonight, he will move into sole possession of second place for most all-time wins in Rockies' history. He currently has 58 wins.

Francis will oppose Madison Bumgarner whose searching for his 12th win of the season, and first win since July 13th. Bumgarner, who holds a 4.24 ERA on the road this season compared to a 1.98 ERA mark in ten starts at AT&T Park, has found a good amount of success against the Rockies in his young career. Not only does he have a good track record against Colorado (3-3, 1.93 ERA in eight career starts against them), but he's one of the very few pitchers that pitches well in the lively Coors Field (2-2, 2.84 ERA in 25.1 innings)

If the Giants score four runs like their track record suggests, there's a good chance Bumgarner will get the win, as he's 28-3 with a 2.39 ERA when he gets at least three runs of support.

Angel Pagan, who scored a career-high four runs last night, will seek to keep his recent train of succes going against Francis who he has hit two lifetime home runs off of in just six at-bats. Hunter Pence has also hit a home run off Francis in 12 career at-bats against the lefty.

Worth Noting:

- Buster Posey currently has a seven-game hitting streak going. During the streak, he's 12-26.

- Ryan Theriot is hitting just .156 (5-32) in his last eight games despite collecting two hits in last night's route of the Rockies.

- Brett Pill is 1-15 since being called up from Fresno on Tuesday, with the only hit being a solo home run on Friday night. It should be noted that Pill hit three hard line drives on Friday which won't show up in the box score, but Bruce Bochy has to be encourage with what he's seeing from Pill.

- Hunter Pence finally recorded his first hit in a Giants uniform on Friday night, but he's just 1-12 in three games with San Francisco so far.

- Joaquin Arias is hitting .305 against lefties this season. The Rockies originally planned on pitching three lefties this series, but tomorrow's starter Christian Friedrich went on the DL today. A starter has yet to be named for Sunday's series finale.

Lineups- First Pitch 5:10PT/8:10ET


Giants:

1. Angel Pagan (S) CF
2. Ryan Theriot (R) 2B
3. Melky Cabrera (S) LF
4. Buster Posey (R) C
5. Hunter Pence (R) RF
6. Marco Scutaro (R) 3B
7. Brett Pill (R) 1B
8. Joaquin Arias (R) SS
9. Madison Bumgarner (R) P

Rockies:

1. Eric Young (S) RF
2. Josh Rutledge (R) SS
3. Dexter Fowler (S) CF
4. Carlos Gonzalez (L) LF
5. Jordan Pacheco (R) 3B
6. Ramon Hernandez (R) C
7. Matt McBride (R) 1B
8. Jonathan Herrera (S) 2B
9. Jeff Francis (L) P

Posted in: Colorado Rockies,Madison Bumgarner,San Francisco Giants