San Francisco Giants vs. Cincinnati Reds (7:10 pm ET, CSN-BA)
Cincinnati Reds need to fight back against San Francisco Giants in Game 3 (7:10 pm ET, CSN-BA) at Great American Ball Park, Cincinnati, Ohio. The Giants have a 32-25 home, 13-14 away record whereas Reds have a 33-26 away, 19-13 home record. Giants lead the series by 2-0.
With the Cincinnati Reds, on Wednesday night, the Giants will try to help the left-hander, Jonathan Sanchez, in his third straight start and earn his third victory in as many matchups.
Since May 19, the Cy Young winners in San Francisco, Barry Zito and Tim Lincecum are 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in their combined eight starts. Sanchez is just outside the NL’s top 10 in ERA and strikeouts (68), although he (4-4, 2.63 ERA) hasn’t drawn as much attention. in nine of his 11 starts, Sanchez has allowed three earned runs or fewer but he’s failed to win much partly because the Giants (32-25) provided him just 14 runs in his first nine outings, none in his four losses.
On Tuesday, the Giants beat Cincinnati 3-0 for their fifth win in six games. In that victory, Juan Uribe homered after driving in four runs in Monday’s series-opening 6-5 win. Including nine in Uribe’s last five contests, he has a team-best 38 RBIs. Against Aaron Harang (4-5, 5.43), the veteran infielder, however, is 1 for 6.
Harang hasn’t gotten much help from his teammates just like Sanchez. In his first 10 starts, he was given 18 runs but also had a 5.98 ERA. In his last three games, the right-hander has received 21 runs and has gone 2-0. In his last two outings, he has a 2.45 ERA even though he threw 98 pitches over a season-low four innings Friday in a 4-2 loss at Washington. In 12 career starts against the Giants, Harang is 4-6 with a 3.62 ERA but was 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two matchups last season.
While Sanchez hasn’t won three consecutive starts since a career-best, four-game run in 2008, Harang hasn’t earned three straight wins since taking four in a row in 2007.
