Having aided the Chicago Cubs’ hopes of winning the National League Central title, the San Francisco Giants now set their sights on the NL wild-card leader when the playoff hopefuls begin a three-game series Tuesday night in California.
The set kicks off with an intriguing matchup of Cubs left-hander Matthew Boyd (12-6, 2.61), who has never pitched in San Francisco in his 11-year career, against Giants righty Justin Verlander (1-10, 4.64), who has never lost to Chicago in his 20-year reign.
Seemingly relegated to playing the role of spoiler after losing 10 of 12, the Giants kept their slim playoff hopes alive by taking two of three from the Milwaukee Brewers over the weekend on the road.
The losses, combined with three Cubs wins in Los Angeles against the Angels, trimmed the Brewers’ lead in the NL Central to five games at the start of the new week. Meanwhile, the Giants moved within 6 1/2 games of the last of three wild-card spots in the NL.
Boyd threw the Cubs’ only win when the Giants visited Chicago for three games in May. Facing the NL West club for the first time in his career, he limited San Francisco to two runs in six innings in a 9-2 victory.
The 34-year-old is set to pitch in his 30th major league ballpark when he toes the slab at Oracle Park. Boyd will be seeing a Giants team that has struggled mightily at home. While it has been competitive of late on the road, winning nine of its last 15, San Francisco has disappointed its home fans on 15 of the last 17 occasions.
After a happy homecoming in Milwaukee, Giants shortstop Willy Adames hopes the latest road success — the product of a ninth-inning rally against the Brewers on Sunday — carries over to a new homestand.
“We try and win every game, and today was the greatest example,” Adames declared to NBC Sports Bay Area after Sunday’s 4-3 triumph. “We got the win and the series victory. We’re going back home with a happy flight and hopefully we can continue the momentum now at home.”
The Giants will see a team with momentum of its own, with the Cubs having opened a nine-game Western swing with three straight wins against the Angels. They’ve won six of their last seven.
Kyle Tucker led a 19-run assault on Angels pitching with five hits, including three home runs.
“This was coming,” Cubs manager Craig Counsell assured reporters over the weekend. “Kyle will be better moving forward because of this. He’s a great player.”
Tucker has had limited success in his career against Verlander, going 1-for-5 with a single and a walk.
The 42-year-old has gone 2-0 with a 2.35 ERA in four career starts against the Cubs, and he could be inspired in the series opener by his pursuit of a piece of personal history. His next strikeout will be his 100th of the season. It would give him 17 seasons with at least 100, tying Warren Spahn for the 14th-most such campaigns in MLB history. Nolan Ryan holds the record with 24 100-strikeout seasons.
–Field Level Media
