Giants to face challenge from Padres' Latos

Baseball Betting Lines

08/14/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) -- The San Francisco Giants were unable to gain ground on the first-place San Diego Padres in Friday's opener of an important three-game series between the National League West foes. With a matchup against the formidable Mat Latos next on tap, the club could be in danger of falling further behind in the race.

The Padres enter this afternoon's showdown between the division's top two teams with a 3 1/2-game advantage on the Giants after coming through with a 3-2 victory last night. The win was the fifth in a row for surprising San Diego, which continues to own the NL's best overall record at 68-46.

Chase Headley went 2-for-4 and knocked in two runs for San Diego, including the go-ahead tally in the top of the sixth inning. Adrian Gonzalez doubled off San Francisco starter Jonathan Sanchez to lead off the frame, took third on a Ryan Ludwick single, and crossed the plate on Headley's fielder's choice grounder to short.

Clayton Richard and three Padre relievers made the lead stand by holding the Giants scoreless the rest of the way. Richard (10-5) limited San Francisco to two runs on six hits over the first six innings to record his 10th win of the season, with Heath Bell notching his major league-best 35th save with a shutout ninth.

Sanchez (8-8), who had publicly predicted a Giants sweep prior to the series, was handed the loss after allowing all three runs in a five-plus inning stint. Aubrey Huff had an RBI double and Pat Burrell contributed a run-scoring single for San Francisco, with both hits occurring in the opening inning.

The Giants still own a slim lead atop the NL Wild Card standings despite Friday's setback, but Cincinnati was able to cut the margin to a half-game after defeating Florida last night.

Of greater importance to San Francisco is the team's inability to win against the Padres this season. San Diego has now prevailed in eight of the nine meetings between the teams in 2010, including all four bouts that have taken place at AT&T Park.

"They do the little things right and we haven't," Huff told the Giants' official site after last night's loss. "Runner at third, they're able to get a sac fly. In the second [inning], we have first and second [with] nobody out and can't get the bunt down, and that kind of set the tone. We just didn't do the little things that push across runs."

Scoring runs has especially been a problem for the Giants against Latos, a pitcher who's often dominated them over the course of his brief tenure in the majors. In three prior encounters with San Francisco this season, the emerging young ace has posted two wins and a no-decision while yielding a total of two runs over a span of 22 innings.

Latos will be returning to the site of his only career shutout this afternoon. In a May 13 clash at AT&T Park, the talented righty retired 27 of the 28 batters he faced in a 1-0 Padres' victory, with Eli Whiteside's infield single in the sixth inning the only thing preventing a perfect game.

The 22-year-old has been just as good regardless of the opponent over the past two-plus months. Latos comes in having won seven of eight decisions since June 10 and has registered an astounding 1.07 earned run average over his past eight starts, having surrendered two runs or fewer in every one of those assignments.

Latos turned in another gem this past Sunday in Arizona to up his season record to 12-5, with the Diamondbacks mustering no runs and just two hits in his six innings of work.

He'll be taking on a San Francisco lineup that could have a new member on Saturday, with the Giants acquiring veteran outfielder Jose Guillen from Kansas City yesterday in exchange for a player to be named. The 34-year-old is batting .255 with 16 homers and 62 RBI this season, but has mustered just a .151 average (11-for-73) since the All-Star break.

The Giants will try to combat Latos with their hopeful future ace, Madison Bumgarner. The promising 21-year-old has gone 4-4 with a solid 3.36 ERA in nine starts since being promoted from Triple A in late June, but seems to have hit a wall as of late.

Bumgarner was reached for seven runs in a combined 10 innings in back-to-back defeats to Florida and Colorado before permitting three runs and nine hits in a 5 2/3-inning no-decision against the Chicago Cubs on Monday. Prior to that struggling stretch, the 2007 first-round draft choice had gone 4-0 with a 1.35 ERA over four straight road starts in July.

The left-hander's major league debut took place against the Padres at AT&T Park last September, with Bumgarner giving up two runs over 5 1/3 innings while not getting a decision.

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