Giants at Rockies
The Colorado Rockies are dominating San Francisco this season and look to beat the visiting Giants for the ninth time in 10 meetings in Saturday's third contest of a four-game series. The Rockies outscored the Giants 20-17 while winning the first two games of this set and have captured 10 of their last 13 overall.
DJ LeMahieu went 4-for-4 in Friday's 10-8 win and is the first Colorado player with back-to-back four-hit efforts since Carlos Gonzalez in 2010. Ian Desmond smacked a three-run homer as part of a season-best four-RBI performance as the Rockies maintained a one-game lead over Arizona and Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League West. The Giants have dropped 13 of their last 17 contests but dodged a bigger issue when Buster Posey's ankle injury was determined to be minor - he pinch-hit on Friday and could start Saturday. "I don't know if we could have gotten better news because he was in a lot of pain," San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. "I thought it was going to be quite a while, but we got the news much later that he's doing so much better. It was a little bit of an impingement, maybe some scar tissue."
TV: 3:10 p.m. ET, NBCSN Bay Area (San Francisco), ROOT Rocky Mountain (Colorado)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Matt Cain (3-5, 5.22 ERA) vs. Rockies LH Kyle Freeland (7-4, 3.57)
Cain is 0-4 over his last five turns and has given up five or more runs in three of the outings. The 32-year-old lasted just 4 1/3 innings in a no-decision against Minnesota in his last start, when he gave up five runs and seven hits. Cain is 17-10 with a 3.52 ERA in 39 career appearances (38 starts) against the Rockies and has shut down Gonzalez (8-for-54, 17 strikeouts) while having issues with Gerardo Parra (20-for-64).
Freeland lost to Pittsburgh in his last turn as he gave up five runs - four earned - and nine hits in 5 2/3 innings. The 23-year-old won four of his previous five outings while averaging six frames during the stretch. Freeland defeated the Giants on April 23, when he gave up six hits - two to Hunter Pence - during seven scoreless innings.
WALK-OFFS
1. Giants INF Eduardo Nunez (hamstring) sat out Friday but could be available to pinch-hit on Saturday.
2. Gonzalez recorded a single on Friday - his only hit in 28 at-bats over his last nine appearances.
3. San Francisco rookie OF/3B Austin Slater is 13-for-23 with six RBIs during his six-game hitting streak.