Giants at Padres
San Diego’s James Shields and San Francisco ace Madison Bumgarner meet for the first time since last season’s World Series on Saturday when the Padres host the Giants in the third of a four-game series. The pitchers faced off in Games 1 and 5 of last year’s Fall Classic, when Shields lost both matchups as a member of the Kansas City Royals.
The teams have split the first two games of the series by identical 1-0 scores, and Saturday’s contest figures to be another pitchers’ duel. The Giants have struggled offensively without Brandon Belt (groin) and Hunter Pence (hand), but Belt could return to the starting lineup as soon as Sunday’s series finale and Pence is hoping to be available by the end of the month. San Diego, which was expected to be much improved following a whirlwind of offseason trade activity, has struck out 45 times in the first five games and already endured a 22-inning scoreless streak. Second baseman Jedd Gyorko is batting .125 after striking out twice in three at-bats Friday.
TV: 8:40 p.m. ET, CSN Bay Area (San Francisco), FSN San Diego
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants LH Madison Bumgarner (1-0, 1.29 ERA) vs. Padres RH James Shields (0-0, 3.00)
Bumgarner was in midseason form lMonday as he held Arizona to one run over seven innings while making his second consecutive Opening Day start. “I don’t know what else you can say about him,” manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “I mean, this guy’s special. We just keep moving forward with how good he is.” Last season’s World Series MVP is 6-4 with 3.48 ERA in 18 career games (17 starts) against the Padres.
Shields made his Padres debut Monday and earned a no-decision after yielding two runs on six hits with eight strikeouts over six innings against the Dodgers. The Southern California native is the only pitcher in the majors to have thrown at least 225 innings in each of the last four seasons. Shields is making his second career start at Petco Park after tossing seven shutout innings against the Padres on May 7, 2014.
WALK-OFFS
1. San Francisco has scored two runs or fewer in eight of its last 11 games at Petco Park.
2. Giants 1B Travis Ishikawa (back) will begin a minor-league rehab assignment at Triple-A Sacramento on Saturday.
3. The Padres placed RHP Ian Kennedy (hamstring) on the disabled list and recalled RHP Brandon Maurer.