Reds at Giants
The San Francisco Giants are hoping for a much-needed quality start from Dereck Rodriguez on Friday, when they begin a three-game series against the visiting Cincinnati Reds. The Giants are eager to return home after going 3-3 during a wild road trip that saw their starting pitchers post a 14.29 ERA in six games at hitter-friendly ballparks in Cincinnati and Colorado.
Tyler Austin belted two home runs in a 12-11 loss to the Rockies on Thursday, hours after six-time All-Star catcher Buster Posey landed on the 7-day concussion list for the second time in his career. “We hope this is really mild and he’ll be ready to go in seven days. But we don’t know that now,” San Francisco manager Bruce Bochy told reporters. “When there’s more than one, you always have a little concern. Buster, he wants to stay on top of this so there are no concerns.” Cincinnati has lost eight of its last 13 contests but recorded a 3-0 win over Oakland on Thursday behind six strong innings from Tanner Roark. Eugenio Suarez homered and doubled twice, giving him four blasts in his last six games.
TV: 10:15 p.m. ET, FS Ohio (Cincinnati), NBCS Bay Area (San Francisco)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Reds RH Luis Castillo (3-1, 1.97 ERA) vs. Giants RH Dereck Rodriguez (3-4, 5.75)
Castillo is facing San Francisco for the second time in a week after yielding four runs and four hits with nine strikeouts over seven innings of a no-decision on Sunday. “He was throwing a no-hitter until the sixth," Posey told reporters. “He was tough - really tough. Being able to score four runs off him is a nice accomplishment.” The reigning National League Pitcher of the Month is 6-2 with a 1.62 ERA in his last 13 starts dating to last season.
Rodriguez has struggled in his last two starts, allowing a total of 14 runs - 12 earned - over eight innings. The son of Hall-of-Famer Ivan Rodriguez gave up a career-high four homers in Saturday’s 9-2 loss to the Reds. “This is uncharted territory, so I’m just going to go out there like every other day and just battle,” he told reporters. “You just forget about it and move on. You think about bad outings too much, it’ll eat you up. In this game, you’ve got to have a short memory.”
WALK-OFFS
1. The Reds have won 16 of their last 26 games at Oracle Park.
2. Cincinnati OF Jesse Winker was held out of the starting lineup Thursday due to tightness in his left quadriceps and is listed as day-to-day.
3. The Giants placed LHP Drew Pomeranz (lat) on the 10-day injured list and recalled C Aramis Garcia and RHP Tyler Beede from Triple-A Sacramento.