Leave it to the San Francisco Giants to break impressive streaks these days! Unfortunately, the impressive streak was impressive only of the trainwreck "can't look away" variety, speaking of course, about the Pittsburgh Pirates' ten-game losing streak. San Francisco lost game one in a big way, but responded well in game two. Madison Bumgarner was on and he got his run support. He'd received three or less runs of support in twenty of his twenty-three starts this season, so the six he got on Tuesday had to make him feel good.
But today is a new day, and the shaky Jonathan Sanchez will be taking the mound. Sanchez was shaky before a stint on the disabled list, and his first start off of it wasn't any better. He gave up five runs on seven hits with two walks against the Phillies on Friday, and is 0-3 with a 5.76 earned run average in his last five appearances. He's gone less than five innings the last three times out there.
His 4-6 mark in 17 starts is a cause for concern, as is his 4.10 ERA. On his best day, he'll look like the best pitcher in the league, but who knows when he'll get his best day again? At the very least, he's gone 2-1 against the Pirates in six matchups, but he's sporting a 5.16 ERA against them.
Jeff Karstens will be countering him for the Pirates, and he'll either have a lot of momentum or none at all, depending on how you look at it. He's 0-2 with a 6.45 ERA in his last four starts, and gave up nine runs off of nine hits in his last outing against the Padres on Friday, lasting only three innings. He does, however, boast a three-game winning streak on the road, with a 4-2 mark and a 3.03 ERA in twelve road starts. He's 0-2 against the Giants in three appearances (two starts), and lost to them earlier this year, on April 28th.
The game is set for 12:45 p.m. pacific and will be on CSN Bay Area.