Padres at Giants
The San Diego Padres are finding victories against the host San Francisco Giants easy to come by as they play the second contest of their four-game set on Friday. The Padres improved to 7-3 against the Giants with Thursday's series-opening 5-2 win and have won 15 of their last 20 meetings dating back to last season's All-Star break.
Cory Spangenberg slugged a tiebreaking two-run homer in the series opener and is 8-for-19 with three homers and eight RBIs over his last five games. San Diego's pitching rebounded nicely by blanking the Giants in eight of the nine innings after being pounded for 36 runs while losing three straight to Colorado. San Francisco's Buster Posey was hitless in four at-bats on Thursday after going 8-for-20 during a six-game hitting streak. The Giants are the second team in the majors to reach 60 losses this season, with Philadelphia (61) being the first.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FSN San Diego, NBCSN Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Padres RH Trevor Cahill (4-3, 3.14 ERA) vs. Giants RH Jeff Samardzija (4-11, 4.86)
Cahill defeated the Giants on Sunday, when he struck out eight in 6 2/3 innings while giving up one run and eight hits. The 29-year-old is 3-1 with a 2.16 ERA over his last six starts, striking out 41 in 33 1/3 frames during the stretch. Cahill is 7-5 with a 3.63 ERA in 17 career appearances (14 starts) versus the Giants and has struggled with Denard Span (9-for-23) and Posey (8-for-24, one homer).
Samardzija has dropped consecutive starts and was rocked for seven runs and nine hits over six innings while matched up against Cahill on Sunday. The 32-year-old has a superb strikeout-to-walk ratio (135 to 14) and has issued fewer than two walks in each of his last 15 outings. Samardzija has posted a 6.23 ERA in two starts against the Padres this season, stands 7-3 with a 3.68 ERA in 14 career appearances (12 starts), and has dominated Wil Myers (2-for-16, seven strikeouts).
WALK-OFFS
1. The Giants are expected to sign former star 3B Pablo Sandoval - the 2012 World Series MVP - to a minor-league contract on Friday.
2. San Diego rookie RF Hunter Renfroe (neck) was activated before Thursday's game and slugged a two-run homer off Giants ace Madison Bumgarner.
3. San Francisco INF Eduardo Nunez (hamstring) returned to the starting lineup and went 2-for-4 with an RBI to reach base for the 36th time in his last 37 contests.