The San Francisco Giants face the Arizona Diamondbacks for Game 2 of their current set at Chase Field.
San Francisco blanked Arizona 8-0 in the series opener on Tuesday behind Evan Longoria who had three hits including a three-run homer. Kevin Gausman pitched five scoreless innings before the Giants bullpen closed out the show.
The win ended San Francisco’s three-game losing streak and put them back in the thick of the fight for the NL West lead. Meanwhile, the loss was the 9th consecutive setback for Arizona and they have dropped further to the bottom of the division with an 18-31 record.
The San Francisco Giants won five in a row before they were swept by the Dodgers in their most recent series. Los Angeles outscored San Francisco 19-9 in four games played to win their set 4-0. San Francisco is 29-19 on the year and they are in third place in the NL West team standings, just 1.5 games behind the San Diego Padres.
Buster Posey is the best hitter on the team at .355. Posey has nine home runs and 17 runs batted in so far this season. Meanwhile, Brandon Crawford leads the team with 11 home runs and 9 RBIs. The Giants rank 13th in scoring at 4.57 runs per game while they are third overall in runs allowed at 3.57 per game. The team is ranked 25th in batting average at .227 and they are 6th overall at 1.16 home runs per contest.
Right-hander Johnny Cueto will open on top of the mound for San Francisco. Cueto has started six games this season and has posted a 1-3 record with an ERA of 3.34. The right-hander gave up five runs on eight hits in three innings to the Padres last May 9th but has since been impressive with a total of three runs allowed in his last 9.1 innings pitched, including just one run in five innings against Cincinnati last May 20th.
The last nine days have been tough for the Arizona Diamondbacks as they were swept by the Dodgers and Rockies while extending their losing streak to eight games. On Tuesday, the Giants blanked them 8-0 in their series opener. Arizona has dropped to 18-31 on the season and is in the bottom of the NL West team standings, 13 games behind division leaders San Diego.
Eduardo Escobar leads San Francisco with 12 home runs and 35 RBIs but is hitting just .230. Carson Kelly is the team leader in hitting with at .338 and he has produced 19 RBIs and 9 homers. The D-Backs rank 15th in runs scored at 4.38 and 28th in runs conceded at 5.23. They rank 22nd in batting average at .229 and are 20th in home runs at 1.06 per game.
Merrill Kelly gets the nod to open the game for the Diamondbacks. Kelly is 2-5 in nine starts with an ERA of 5.05. However, he has pitched better this month with a 3.65 ERA in four starts but is 0-3 in those games due to lack of run support. In his last start, Kelly allowed three runs on six hits in seven innings pitched.
San Francisco is 6-3 in their last nine games played, and 6-0 in their last six games played on the road. The Giants are 5-0 in their last five road games against a right-handed starter, 7-2 in their last nine Wednesday games, 6-2 in their last eight games as betting favorites, and 6-0 in their last six road games.
Arizona is 19-39 in their last 58 games played as underdogs, 18-37 in their last 55 games against the National League West, 16-38 in their last 54 games after a defeat, 1-4 in their last five games as home underdogs, 6-20 in their last 26 games on grass, and 6-20 in their last 26 games overall.
Cueto is facing a team that is struggling right now and he is currently throwing the ball quite well. Like Cueto, Kelly has pitched well as of late and he’s allowed only a total of 10 earned runs in the month of May.
I think that the biggest difference in this matchup is the San Francisco bullpen which has gotten the job done this season. Meanwhile, Arizona’s bullpen has been terrible this campaign and while this will be a low-scoring game dictated by the pitchers, the Giants will pull it off behind a steadier bullpen.
Prediction: Giants -118
The total has gone under in seven out of the Giants’ last eight games as favorites. The under is 4-1 in their last five games against a pitcher with a WHIP greater than 1.30, 6-2 in their last eight games after a win, 8-3 in their last 11 games against a right-handed starter, and 4-0 in their last four games after scoring five or more runs in their previous game.
The total has gone under in five out of the last six games played by Arizona. The under is 5-1 in their last six games played in the grass, 5-1 in their last six games against the National League West, 37-13-1 in their last 51 games after scoring two or fewer runs in their previous game, and 5-2 in their last seven games against an opponent with a winning percentage better than .600.
Both pitchers are throwing the ball well right now and I’m looking forward to big performances by the two starters. Add the fact that these offenses didn’t do so well last week. These factors should help keep the score down.
The difference in the scoring of this game will be after Kelly checks out The Giants are 14th in bullpen ERA at 4.06 while the D-Backs bullpen is averaging one run higher and just 5-15 in save opportunities. I’m seeing a low-scoring and close game with the Giants pulling away late to win the game. As for the score, I don’t think it’s going to go over the current 9 total.
Prediction: Under 9 (-116)
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