After the roughed up bullpen held the San Diego Padres in check Wednesday afternoon at Petco Park, the San Francisco Giants are looking for another series victory in the rubber match Thursday as Matt Cain takes on Padres newcomer Jason Marquis.
Cain (6-2 2.62) in on a heater right now, riding the wave of his five game winning streak into this outing. He's allowed just two earned runs in his last two starts (14.2 IP) on 10 combined hits, fanning 11 along the way. Success has been hard to find for the big right handed in San Diego, owning a 1-3 record over his last six starts there despite a 2.84 ERA.
As for Marquis, he'll be making his first start for the Friars after being acquired by the team at the end of May to be the new fifth starter. He was last seen with the Twins on May 20, lasting just 1.2 innings after giving up eight earned runs against the Brewers.
Angel Pagan continues to go streaking, hitting safely for his 14th straight game last night. That makes it 45 of his last 47 games with at least one hit. Very impressive. Wednesday was also the Giants 11th game of their last 12 that have been decided by one run or fewer, while they extended their impressive mark against left handed starters to 13-5 this year, the best in all of baseball.
First pitch is set for 12:35 p.m. PT with coverage on CSN Bay Area and KNBR 680 AM.
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