The San Francisco Giants have had back-to-back shaky starts from their starting pitchers against the Atlanta Braves this weekend, and now will have to rely on a somewhat ill Jonathan Sanchez to avoid being swept at home.
Sanchez (2-1 3.13 ERA) has been battling the flu over the past few days but will still be looking for his third quality start in a row today. The Giants offense has been seriously struggling, not scoring more than 2 runs in any of their past three games, so a quality start from the Sanchize is almost a must. He’s got a 1-2 record with a 5.55 ERA in eight career appearances against Atlanta, which hopefully he will improve on today. Now it’s up to the Giants offense to respond with some clutch hits.
As for the Braves, they hand it over to right-hander Brandon Beachy (1-1 3.86 ERA) in an attempt to finish out the series sweep for Atlanta. Beachy pitched 6 scoreless against the Dodgers in his last start, earning his first win of 2011, and will be shooting for a repeat performance at AT&T this afternoon.
at 10-10 for the season, San Francisco needs to get themselves a win before they embark on a 10 game road trip with stops in the Steel City, the Nation’s Capital, and the Big Apple.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:05 PT this afternoon, and will be broadcast of CSN Bay Area, KNBR 680 AM, KIQI, and KATD 990 AM.
For more discussion and analysis of the Black and Orange head over to our Giants blog, McCovey Chronicles, to get in on the action.