The Giants hand the ball to All-Star Matt Cain (13-5, 2.61 ERA) as they go for a three-game series sweep of the suddenly slumping Rockies, who will turn to southpaw Jorge De La Rosa (14-9, 4.37) at AT&T Park.
San Francisco has hammered the Rockies the last two nights by scores of 9-1 and 10-2 and is now 2˝ games behind Colorado in the wild-card race. The Giants have won three in a row after a four-game slide, and they’re on additional hot streaks of 36-17 at home, 45-20 as a home chalk, 6-1 on Wednesday and 9-3 against southpaw starters.
Colorado has followed up an eight-game winning streak with four straight losses – two in San Diego over the weekend and two in San Francisco. The Rockies are in additional funks of 1-7 on the road, 3-13 as an underdog (1-11 as a road pup) and 0-7 versus winning teams, but Jim Tracy’s squad is 4-1 in its last five on Wednesday and 44-20 in its last 64 versus right-handed starters.
The Giants hold a 10-7 lead in the season series against the Rockies, including six straight wins at home. In fact, the host has won eight straight and 10 of 11 in this rivalry.
De La Rosa has given up one earned run in each of his last three starts, going 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA during this stretch, with the Rockies winning all three games, including a 4-1 victory in San Diego on Friday. The Mexican native has given up two earned runs or fewer in eight of 11 outings since the All-Star break, going 8-2 with a 3.21 ERA. He’s 5-3 with a 3.84 ERA in 12 road starts, yielding three earned or fewer in 10 of those contests.
The Rockies are 15-3 in De La Rosa’s last 18 starts overall, 6-1 in his last seven on the road, 6-1 in his last seven versus N.L. West foes and 6-0 in his six career starts against the Giants. He’s 5-0 with a 3.35 ERA in nine career appearances (three relief) against San Francisco, including 2-0 with a 5.40 ERA in two games this year.
Cain is coming off Friday’s 10-3 home loss to the Dodgers in which he gave up four runs in six innings. It was the second time in his last three starts and the fourth time in his last eight that Cain allowed at least four runs in a game, and the right-hander is 1-3 with a 3.83 ERA in eight outings since the beginning of August.
Behind Cain, the Giants are on runs of 18-6 overall, 17-5 at home, 10-2 as a home chalk and 6-1 versus divisional rivals. After the loss to L.A. on Friday, he’s now 6-3 with a 2.74 ERA in 15 games at AT&T Park, and he’s 8-5 with a 3.16 ERA in 17 career starts against Colorado (2-1, 3.60 ERA in four games this season).
Colorado carries “under” trends of 6-3 overall, 7-4 on the highway, 8-5 versus N.L. West rivals, 7-0 on Wednesday and 5-1 against right-handed starters. However, the over is 7-2 in San Francisco’s last nine at home and 5-0 in its last five against the N.L. West, but otherwise it is on “under” streaks of 5-0 on Wednesday, 4-1 against lefty starters,11-5 overall when Cain pitches and 8-2 when Cain starts at home against Colorado.
Finally, the under is 6-3 in the last nine Rockies-Giants battles at AT&T Park, though the first two games of this series have flown over the posted price.
ATS ADVANTAGE: SAN FRANCISCO
AMERICAN LEAGUE
L.A. Angels (86-58) at Boston (85-58)
The Red Sox shoot for their sixth straight win when they send Paul Byrd (1-1, 6.08 ERA) to the Fenway Park mound to oppose the Angels and Joe Saunders (13-7, 4.81) in the middle game of a three-game series.
Daisuke Matsuzaka pitched by far his best game of the season Tuesday as Boston rolled to a 4-1 win in the series opener. The Red Sox are a perfect 6-0 on their current homestand, allowing a total of nine runs in the process (with five of those nine coming in one game) and they’ve built up a 5˝-game lead on Texas in the wild-card race. Terry Francona’s club enters tonight on positive streaks of 50-19 at Fenway Park and 4-1 on Wednesday, but they’re still just 4-7 in their last 11 against A.L. West foes.
Los Angeles has now dropped two in a row and three of four after a four-game winning streak. The Angels are still on impressive runs of 57-29 overall, 27-14 on the road, 47-25 against the A.L. East (12-5 last 17), 6-3 versus right-handed starters and 4-1 on Wednesday.
The Angels still hold a 4-3 edge in the season series with Boston, and they’re 13-6 in the last 19 meetings overall (6-3 at Fenway).
Saunders has been brilliant since returning from a stint on the disabled list, going 4-0 with a 1.85 ERA in four outings, including a 7-1 rout of the White Sox on Friday in which he yielded just the one run on three hits in seven innings. The southpaw is 7-4 with a 5.38 ERA on the road this year, but 2-0 with a 1.50 ERA in his last two on the highway (10-0 win in Seattle; 7-2 win in Kansas City).
With Saunders on the bump, L.A. is on hot streaks of 41-18 overall, 4-0 on the road, 9-2 against the A.L. East, 7-1 all-time versus the Red Sox and 4-0 when he pitches in Beantown. The one loss to Boston came on April 11 when he gave up four runs in seven innings, with the Halos falling 5-4 at home. Saunders has won all three of his regular-season starts at Fenway Park (2.75 ERA).
Byrd has made three starts since joining the Red Sox on Aug. 30, and he followed up a horrendous outing at the White Sox on Sept. 4 (seven runs allowed in 2 1/3 innings) with a two-run, five-inning stint a week ago tonight against Baltimore, getting a no-decision in his team’s 7-5 victory. The veteran right-hander has allowed just those two runs over 11 innings in two games at Fenway (1.64 ERA).
Going back to last year, the Red Sox are on an 8-2 roll behind Byrd, going 4-1 in his last five at home. For his career, he’s 4-2 with a 4.94 ERA in nine career starts against the Angels.
L.A. is riding “under” streaks of 16-3-1 overall, 7-0 on the road and 12-1-1 against right-handed starters, but the over is 12-5-1 in the Halos’ last 18 against the A.L. East, 14-3 in Saunders’ last 17 starts overall, 7-1 in his last eight on the road and 15-5-1 in his last 21 against the A.L. East (3-1-1 versus the Red Sox. Also, the over is 16-8 in Boston’s last 24 at Fenway.
The sports advisors 9/16
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