Just a week ago the San Francisco Giants were riding high, sporting a comfortable lead over the Arizona Diamondbacks in the NL West, unveiling their latest acquisitions on Carlos Beltran and Jeff Keppinger, and almost looking like a playoff lock in July. But now the Black and Orange are on a four game losing streak with only a single game separating them at the D'backs, with the lead in the division up for grabs on Tuesday night at AT&T Park.
Tim Lincecum (9-8 2.78 ERA) will take the mound for the Giants tonight, hopefully to curb their now four-game losing streak and get back to their winning ways. Lincecum has 7-2 record lifetime against Arizona along with a 2.42 ERA and one complete game in 15 outings against them. Six of his 30 double-digit-strikeout starts have come against the Diamondbacks, not to mention 13 of his 15 starts against them have been quality starts. His carrer wins and strikeout totals are higher against Arizona then any other team, racking up seven W's and 130 strikeouts against the D-backs along the way. Needless to say, Timmy fares well against this team historically.
Squaring off against Lincecum will be Daniel Hudson (10-7 3.81 ERA), who has been hotter than hot over the last few months. In his last 18 starts, Hudson has an impressive 10-3 record with a 3.39 ERA, allowing only 46 earned runs in 122 innings over that span along with 21 walks and 89 strikeouts. He sits tied for fourth in wins, tied for ninth in innings pitched, tied for 11th with a .769 win percentage and 12th with a 4.24 strikeout-to-walk ratio amongst all qualifying pitchers since April 26, 2011. Looks like we might have another pitcher's duel on our hands.
In other Giants news Freddy Sanchez will undergo season-ending shoulder surgery Tuesday , but should be good to go for Spring Training 2012. Barry Zito got Jonathan Sanchez'ed with a phantom injury putting him on the DL; the team is calling it a 'right foot sprain,' the same injury that landed him on the DL earlier this year, although Zito mentioned nothing about an injury to anyone in the clubhouse. Jonathan Sanchez will take his spot in the rotation back from Zito, hoping to have a better showing then he did earlier in the year.
First pitch Tuesday is set for 7:15 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.