Basketball Betting

NL playoff hopefuls square off in San Francisco

Baseball Betting Lines

08/23/2010 - (Sportsbook Betting Lines) - The San Francisco Giants return home seeking to bounce back from a tough road trip, while the Cincinnati Reds aim to continue their success on a West Coast swing when the two playoff hopefuls open up a key three-game series tonight from AT&T Park.

The Reds have gone 5-1 thus far on their three-city trek against National League West opponents and won for the eighth time in nine contests overall with Sunday's 5-2 triumph over the Los Angeles Dodgers. The surge has extended Cincinnati's advantage over second-place St. Louis to 3 1/2 games in the NL Central standings.

Joey Votto went 2-for-4 with three RBI in yesterday's matchup with the Dodgers and snapped a 2-2 tie with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. The All-Star first baseman's 29th long ball of the year helped make a winner out of starting pitcher Bronson Arroyo (14-7), who held Los Angeles to two runs and struck out six over the first seven frames.

"I didn't have overwhelming command today," said Arroyo afterward. "But I did get [the Dodgers] to hit the ball where our guys were at. In the sixth, I still had some gas in the tank but I told them to watch me."

Nick Masset and Francisco Cordero each threw a scoreless inning in relief of Arroyo to close out the victory, while Votto provided some insurance by delivering a two-run single in the top of the ninth.

The win was Cincinnati's 12th in its past 14 games on the road and improved the Central Division front-runners to 36-26 as the visitor this season. The Reds now get to test their skills against one of the better home teams in the NL, with the Giants having compiled a solid 37-23 mark at AT&T Park so far in 2010.

The Reds have prevailed in four of their last six visits to San Francisco, however, and split a four-game set with the Giants in Cincinnati back in June.

San Francisco comes home having lost five of its past seven outings and just went 2-4 on a challenging six-game trip through fellow NL Wild Card contenders Philadelphia and St. Louis. The Giants dropped the final two bouts of their weekend series with the Cardinals and were dealt a 9-0 defeat in Sunday's finale.

The Giants mustered only three singles, two of which came of the bat of Pat Burrell, against St. Louis starter Jaime Garcia, with the rookie needing only 89 pitches to record his first career shutout.

Barry Zito (8-8) wasn't nearly as effective for San Francisco, as the former American League Cy Young Award winner lasted a season-low 3 2/3 innings and was tagged for five runs on seven hits.

"[Zito] had trouble getting the ball where he wanted and [the Cardinals] took advantage of it," said Giants manager Bruce Bochy.

Bochy will be counting on a better showing from scheduled starter Matt Cain in tonight's opener of the team's critical nine-game homestand. A performance like the one the right-hander produced against the Reds earlier this season would certainly satisfy the San Francisco skipper.

Cain scattered seven hits and two walks while going the distance in a 3-0 Giants' victory at Cincinnati on June 8, one of nine wins the former first- round draft pick has posted this year. He hasn't had the same success lately, however, having gone 0-2 with a 4.24 earned run average over his last three starts.

The 25-year-old was hurt by poor defense in his most recent assignment, an 8-2 loss to the Phillies on Wednesday in which three of the five runs he surrendered in his six-inning stint were unearned.

Being back on the AT&T Park mound could help Cain get back on track, as he's 6-3 with an excellent 2.62 ERA in 12 home starts for the season. He faced the Reds seven times previously and owns a 3-3 record with a 3.21 ERA over the course of those games.

The Giants enter tonight's clash two games behind Philadelphia for the lead in the NL Wild Card race and are six back of first-place San Diego in the NL West.

Edinson Volquez will take the ball for the Reds in this series opener and will be out to improve off a poor showing last Wednesday in Arizona, where the hard-throwing righty was rocked for five runs in just 4 2/3 innings while obtaining a no-decision against the Diamondbacks.

Volquez had started out August in terrific fashion, coming through with three straight outstanding starts to begin the month. The 2008 All-Star registered wins over Atlanta and Florida and yielded a mere three runs in a combined 17 2/3 innings during that strong stretch.

The 27-year-old missed the first half of the season while recovering from Tommy John surgery and is 3-1 with a 4.98 ERA in seven starts since coming back from the injury. He's been wild at times, however, having issued 24 walks in 34 1/3 innings of work.

Volquez has won each of his two career starts against San Francisco, both of which took place during a 17-win campaign in 2008. In an appearance at AT&T Park that season, the native Dominican struck out 10 batters while holding the Giants to just one run over seven innings.