To say the San Francisco Giants have had an injury prone beginning to their 2011 season would be an understatement, but they’ll be getting one of their most important bats back in the lineup on Tuesday. Thats right, Pablo Sandoval has finally returned, just in time for a matchup with the Arizona Diamondbacks at Chase Field Tuesday night.
Pablo brings his switch-hitting .313 batting average back to the Giants when they sorely need him most, especially with the team’s other hottest hitter, Freddy Sanchez, will now be out indefinitely. But Pablo and the Giants offense will have a challenge in D’back rookie Josh Collmenter (4-1 1.12 ERA) who has been nothing but impressive so far in his debut season. Collmenter held the Pirates scoreless in his five innings of work against them last week, and has a win against the Giants under his belt already this year.
As for the competition, Matt Cain (5-4 3.36 ERA) has had nothing but success against Arizona this year. Cainer is 2-0 with a 1.98 ERA in his two starts this year against the D’backs, allowing only 11 hits and three earned runs in those games combined.
First pitch is set for 6:40 p.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
For more on the Giants, head on over to McCovey Chronicles.