Giants at Reds
The San Francisco Giants and Cincinnati Reds will provide a glimpse into the future on Friday when they open their four-game series at Great American Ball Park. The visiting Giants are expected to reach out to Triple-A Sacramento to call up former first-round draft pick Tyler Beede for his season debut against a Reds club that reportedly will promote celebrated prospect Nick Senzel.
While youth will be served in the series between the last-place clubs, veteran Buster Posey is showing he still has plenty in the tank. The 32-year-old Posey extended his hitting streak to eight games during which he has driven in eight runs, including Steven Duggar with a two-out RBI single in San Francisco's 2-1 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Wednesday. Like the Giants, the Reds have lost four of six and return home after mustering just one run and eight hits over their last two contests. Derek Dietrich recorded two of Cincinnati's four hits in Thursday afternoon's 1-0 setback to the New York Mets after going 1-for-14 in his previous eight games.
TV: 7:10 p.m. ET, NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco), FS Ohio (Cincinnati)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants RH Tyler Beede (2018: 0-1, 8.22 ERA) vs. Reds RH Sonny Gray (0-4, 3.64)
Beede looks to show what he's learned after following up a less-than-desirable two-start stint with San Francisco in 2018 with a strong performance with Triple-A Sacramento this year. The 25-year-old, who posted a 1-1 record with a 1.99 ERA in five starts with the River Cats, will be taking the place of the injured Derek Holland. "You can see how much better he's gotten," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. "Just from the end of last year to what you saw last spring. He carried that into Sacramento, so he should feel good about where he's at. His confidence should be way up there. We're excited about getting a chance to watch him."
Gray is still looking to register his first win since signing a three-year, $30.5 million contract in January, despite recording four strong starts in his last five trips to the mound. The 29-year-old allowed two runs on three hits in five innings of Sunday's 5-2 setback to St. Louis. Evan Longoria is 10-for-32 with a homer against Gray, who won both of his career starts and posted a 2.08 ERA in two career meetings with San Francisco.
WALK-OFFS
1. Senzel, who is the No. 5 overall prospect in baseball, according to MLB Pipeline, is hitting .257 in six games for Triple-A Louisville.
2. San Francisco 1B Brandon Belt has five runs scored and four RBIs while hitting safely in seven of his last eight contests.
3. Cincinnati RF Yasiel Puig is 0-for-12 in his last three games.