As the San Francisco Giants prepare to kick off their final series before the All-Star break against the Pittsburgh Pirates, there are still plenty of questions swirling following their poor showing against the Washington Nationals. The Giants have lost four of their last five games and their bullpen in particular has looked frighteningly fallible.

On Friday, the Giants face a left-hander in Erik Bedard, so Bruce Bochy has put together another interesting lineup that includes Justin Christian batting leadoff. In Thursday's game against the Nationals, the Giants rapped out 15 hits with Christian in the leadoff spot, so perhaps Bochy is again attempting to play the hot hand.

However, the Giants will need to do much better than the 3-for-15 with runners in scoring position that they managed on Thursday. The Pirates are in first place in the National League Central division and will be no pushovers in their home park.

Here are the lineup's for Friday's game:

Giants

1. Justin Christian (R) RF
2. Ryan Theriot (R) 2B
3. Melky Cabrera (S) LF
4. Buster Posey (R) 1B
5. Pablo Sandoval (S) 3B
6. Angel Pagan (S) CF
7. Hector Sanchez (S) C
8. Joaquin Arias (R) SS
9. Barry Zito (L) P

Pirates

1. Josh Harrison (R) SS
2. Drew Sutton (S) RF
3. Andrew McCutchen (R) CF
4. Casey McGehee (R) 1B
5. Neil Walker (S) 2B
6. Pedro Alvarez (L) 3B
7. Rod Barajas (R) C
8. Gorkys Hernandez (R) LF
9. Erik Bedard (L) P

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