The San Francisco Giants are struggling. Losers of nine of their last 11 games, barely being able to mount a rally or even score a run over the past few weeks, more injuries to key players; it just hasn’t been there day for about two straight weeks now. The Pittsburgh Pirates were on a ten game losing streak of their own until Monday night, but who will prevail Tuesday is this battle of slumping contenders?
Madison Bumgarner (6-11 3.71 ERA) will take the mound this evening, looking for some much needed run support. Bummy allowed only two runs against the Phillies in his last start, but to no avail as he still took the loss by a score of 3-0. The lefty took on the Pirates last on April 27, taking another tough-luck despite allowing one run and striking out seven over six innings.Bumgarner’s record along shows the complete lack of offense he gets to back his starts, hopefully he can get some today.
The Pirates will send out James McDonald (7-5 4.23 ERA) who overcame a big hurdle during his last start after finishing seven innings for the first time in 24 carrer starts. He didn’t get the win in that game against the Cubs.
Lastly, Pittsburgh’s Garrett Jones is hot right now. He hitting .444 (12-for-27) with four doubles and three home runs in his first eight games in August.
First pitch is set for 7:15 pm PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.