The San Francisco Giants are thriving heading into the second half of the season as they have one of the more productive offenses in baseball. The Giants are currently batting .330 with nine home runs while averaging 6.8 runs per game in their last eight contests. Those are the numbers they want heading into the final stretch of the year as they push to keep moment moving. The San Diego Padres are hoping to be able to slow them down as James Shields takes the mound.
Shields takes the mound as he is 8-3 with a 3.92 ERA on the season. He has struggled recently and preparing to face an offensive that knocked out three home runs on Tuesday is certainly not ideal. Shields is coming off a performance where he allowed seven runs and nine hits in four innings of play. Prior to that he had allowed one run in 16 innings. Shields gives his best stuff as home where he is 2-1 with a 2.33 ERA in six starts. In his last start at Petco Park he gave up just one run and seven hits while striking out six in a win over Colorado.
Buster Posey has struggled against Shields in his career. The catch is just 1 for 10 verse the pitcher. He has looked good in his last seven games hitting .483 with seven RBIs, but the numbers against Shields might cause the Giants to go with Hector Sanchez for another start. He coming off a grand slam performance on Tuesday and certainly has some momentum taking him into this start.
Matt Cain takes the mound for the Giants in his fourth start since being out for a year with elbow surgery. The pitcher is 1-1 with a 5.06 ERA on the year while coming off a start that saw him strike out seven in six innings of play. He then gave up four runs and eight hits to Arizona so consistency has been an issues so far since his return. Cain has looked good against the Padres. He has a 2.04 ERA in 10 starts against the team.
