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Giants try to stay hot Wednesday at Phillies
By: Freddy Wander - StatFox
Published: 7/23/2014  at  4:54:00 AM
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SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS (56-44)

at PHILADELPHIA PHILLIES (43-57)

First pitch: Wednesday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: San Francisco -135, Philadelphia +125, Total: 7.5

The Giants look to continue their hot second-half start when they play their third of four games in Philadelphia on Wednesday night.

The Giants moved into sole possession of first place in the AL West with their extra-inning win over the Phillies on Tuesday night and now have started the second half of the year with a 4-1 record. In those five games they have outscored their opponents 31-16 while putting up an impressive offensive display in their last game, compiling 18 hits in a 9-6 victory. Buster Posey (.286) was huge in the game, going 4-for-7 with two doubles, a ninth-inning homer, one RBI and two runs. OF Hunter Pence (.305) has been a big part of their success over the past five games as well with 11 hits in 26 at-bats (.423) while getting two doubles, a triple, a home run, six runs and five RBI. Philadelphia has been going in the opposite direction of San Francisco with losses in four of their past five games following the All-Star break. They have been unable to garner much offense with just 18 runs over that time (3.6 runs per game) while squandering a chance at a win on Tuesday with a blown save by Jonathan Papelbon in the top of the ninth inning. The team has not received much production out of their third base position this year and Cody Asche (.249) has continued this trend while going a woeful 4-for-20 (.200) with seven strikeouts since the break. In this contest, the Giants will send LHP Madison Bumgarner (11-7, 3.38 ERA) to the mound to face-off against veteran RHP A.J. Burnett (6-9, 4.08 ERA) of the Phillies. With their win on Tuesday, San Francisco moved to a very solid 28-19 on the road this year while Philadelphia is a poor 19-31 as the home team. These clubs have now faced off 14 times over the past three seasons with the Giants holding a 9-5 edge overall while going an impressive 6-2 on the road against the Phillies. Some interesting trends to watch in this game include that Philadelphia is only 12-28 (.300) on Wednesdays over the last two seasons while Burnett’s teams have gone 9-0 over the past two seasons when he is pitching at home as an underdog of +125 or more since 1997. In injury news, San Francisco will be without 1B Brandon Belt (Concussion) and OF Angel Pagan (Back) for this contest as the Phillies continue to have OF John Mayberry Jr. (Wrist) and C Carlos Ruiz (Concussion) on the DL.

Madison Bumgarner continues to be an ace in the majors as he has had between a 2.77 and 3.40 ERA over each of his five seasons. This year he has upped his strikeout rate to a career-high 9.1 K/9 while also continuing to harness his incredible control (2.3 BB/9). He has had a very rough last five starts, going 2-3 with a 5.93 ERA while giving up 39 hits (30.1 IP). Bumgarner’s last outing was certainly his best in that time as he earned a win against the Marlins after allowing four hits and a run with seven strikeouts (2 walks) in six innings. His performances against the Phillies have not been too great with a 1-2 record (2-2 team record) and 4.38 ERA (1.34 WHIP). His last start against them really bloated those numbers though, as he gave up eight hits and five runs with seven strikeouts (2 walks) in six innings. None of the Phillies’ batters have much experience against the lefty, but both OF Dominic Brown (1-for-3) and injured OF John Mayberry Jr. (2-for-9) have a solo home run against him while veterans OF Marlon Byrd and SS Jimmy Rollins have combined to go a meager 5-for-23 (.217) with five strikeouts in the matchup. The Giants’ bullpen is top five in the league with a 2.71 ERA (1.06 WHIP) while going 20-9 and saving 31-of-44 (70%) games. Closer Santiago Casilla (0.96 ERA, 6 saves) has saved 6-of-9 games this year while striking out just 6.7 batters per nine innings and allowing a paltry 0.24 HR/9.

A.J. Burnett has been the focus of plenty of trade rumors at this time of the year and for good reason as he has allowed three or fewer earned runs in seven of his last eight starts. He has lost some of his strikeout ability this season, though, and after posting a career high 9.9 K/9 with the Pirates last year, he has whiffed 7.4 batters per nine innings in 2014 while seeing his walks rise to 3.8 BB/9. While he has been pitching very well lately, Burnett’s last start left much to be desired as he took the loss against the Braves after going five innings while allowing 10 hits and six runs with five strikeouts (1 walk). He has gone a solid 6-3 with a 2.30 ERA (1.07 WHIP) in his career against the Giants and he has been able to get through at least seven innings in seven of those nine contests while allowing just two home runs in 62.2 IP. Both C Buster Posey (3-for-5, 1 RBI) and 3B Pablo Sandoval (3-for-7, 1 HR, 4 RBI) have done well against the 37-year old in limited at-bats while 2B Marco Scutaro (9-for-32, 2 doubles) has the most experience in the matchup. The Phillies relievers have combined to go 16-13 with a 3.74 ERA (1.28 WHIP) while going 23-for-34 (68%) in save opportunities. Jonathan Papelbon (1.34 ERA, 23 saves) blew his third game of the season on Tuesday while allowing his first home run of the year (0.22 HR/9).


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