Series preview: Braves vs. Giants
When (TV): 10:15 p.m. Monday, 10:15 p.m. Tuesday, 3:45 Wednesday (SportSouth)
Radio: 680, 93.7, 106.7
Probable starting pitchers:
Monday: Braves RH Gavin Floyd (0-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. RH Tim Lincecum (2-2, 5.55)
Tuesday: Braves LH Mike Minor (0-2, 6.97) vs. RH Ryan Vogelsong (1-1, 3.93)
Wednesday: Braves RH Julio Teheran (2-2, 1.71) vs. LH Madison Bumgarner (4-3, 2.83)
About the Braves:
Batting: Jason Heyward is 15-for-38 (.395) with six home runs, 12 RBIs and a .477 OBP in 10 games at San Francisco. He's 7-for-16 with five walks and a .500 OBP against Lincecum…. Evan Gattis hit his eighth homer Sunday…. Chris Johnson has 10 hits in his past five games, after hitting .236 with four RBIs in his first 30.
Pitching: Gavin Floyd made an impressive return from the disabled list Tuesday, allowing one run and six hits in seven innings against St. Louis in his first start since Tommy John surgery. He's 2-0 with a 2.25 ERA in two starts against the Giants, but last faced them in 2008…. Against the Giants, Minor is 2-1 with a 2.93 ERA in five starts against, and Teheran is 2-1 with a 2.70 ERA in three starts. Minor and Teheran each won his only start at San Francisco.
Miscellaneous: Justin Upton is 7-for-21 with four extra-base hits (two homers) and six RBIs in his past five road games, after going 4-for-34 with no extra-base hits and no RBIs in his first nine road games. The ex-Diamondback has a .235 average with two homers and 51 strikeouts in 166 at-bats at AT&T Park. He's 11-for-51 (.216) with no homers and 18 strikeouts vs. Lincecum…. Dan Uggla has nine homers and a .567 slugging percentage in 90 at-bats at AT&T Park, but is 0-for-13 with six strikeouts vs. Lincecum.
About the Giants:
Batting: Angel Pagan was 2-for-17 in his past five games before Sunday, after batting .333 with 10 extra-base hits and 15 RBIs in his first 30…. Brandon Belt is out with a broken thumb. He homered against the Braves on May 3…. Michael Morse, who homered in consecutive games against the Braves May 2-3 to give him a .312 average and eight homers in his first 30 games, has no homers and a .143 average in eight games since.
Pitching: Lincecum has a .329 opponents' average and only two quality starts in seven games, but held the Braves to one run in six innings May 2 in his best start of the season. He's 8-6 with a 2.89 ERA and .218 opponents' average in 14 regular-season starts against the Braves, including 3-6 in his past nine. The Giants scored two or fewer runs while he was in seven of those nine…. Against the Braves, Vogelsong is 2-1 with a 3.81 ERA in five games (four starts), and Bumgarner is 3-3 with a stingy 2.51 ERA in seven starts. Bumgarner has 50 strikeouts and 12 walks in 43 innings against them.
Miscellaneous: Brandon Crawford has hit .345 (19-for-55) with six extra-base hits and 10 RBIs in 16 games against the Braves, including a two-homer game May 4…. The Braves play the Giants for the second time in less than two weeks, and for the second time they won't face longtime former Atlanta veteran Tim Hudson. Before his Sunday night start Hudson was 4-2 with a 1.99 ERA in seven starts and had 36 strikeouts with three walks in 54 1/3 innings.
By David O’Brien
About the Author
