Reds at Giants
The San Francisco Giants try to begin turning around their 12-23 start to the season as they kick off a seven-game homestand Thursday with the first of four against the surging Cincinnati Reds. San Francisco snapped a five-game losing streak - three of the setbacks were by a combined 31-5 against Cincinnati last weekend - with a 6-5 victory over the New York Mets on Wednesday that concluded a 3-6 road trip and snapped a 133-game slide when trailing after eight innings.
Giants shortstop Brandon Crawford is expected to return to the lineup Thursday after missing 10 games with a groin injury. The Reds (18-15) salvaged a split of their two-game series with a 5-3 victory over the equally hot New York Yankees on Tuesday - their sixth triumph in seven games and eighth in the last 10. "I think that was more important than anything. They beat us up a little bit (Monday, 10-4), and to come back and play a better game and get a split in the series was a great reinforcing message to our guys,'' Cincinnati manager Bryan Price told reporters. "I think they already know we have a good club, but I think beating a team that's really been hot is an exclamation point on the early part of the season that we have a better club than even some of the players thought." The Reds' Bronson Arroyo won his third straight decision after defeating San Francisco 13-3 on Friday and opposes Ty Blach, who yielded the cycle in two innings of a 14-2 loss to the Reds on Saturday.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FSN Ohio (Cincinnati), NBC Sports Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Bronson Arroyo (3-2, 6.53 ERA) vs. Giants LH Ty Blach (0-2, 5.66)
Arroyo allowed three runs (two earned), five hits and one walk while striking out four in 5 1/3 innings against the Giants. The 40-year-old Floridian, who last pitched in the major leagues in 2014 prior to this season after undergoing Tommy John surgery, has permitted three runs or fewer in three of his last four starts. Arroyo is 7-5 with a 2.92 ERA in 17 games (16 starts) versus San Francisco - 2-4, 3.49 in eight turns at AT&T Park - and struggles with Buster Posey (7-for-15, home run).
Blach yielded 10 runs (eight earned) and 11 hits - six for extra bases - in three innings against Cincinnati as he fills the injured Madison Bumgarner's spot in the rotation. The 26-year-old Coloradan allowed two runs in 12 frames over his first two starts of the season, but the Giants scored only three runs in losses to San Diego and the Los Angeles Dodgers. Blach is 1-1 with a 0.81 ERA, 0.67 WHIP and .145 batting average against in 22 1/3 innings over six games (three starts) at AT&T Park.
WALK-OFFS
1. Giants 1B Brandon Belt (.220) is hitless in 18 at-bats over his last six games after flying out as a pinch hitter on Wednesday.
2. Reds 1B Joey Votto (.289, 10 home runs, 31 RBIs) is 6-for-13 in his last four games and went 3-for-6 with a homer and five RBIs in the Yankees series.
3. San Francisco has the worst run differential in baseball at minus-68.