San Francisco Giants:Tonight’s Lineup And What To Watch

The San Francisco Giants will face the Oakland A’s tonight at Hohokam Stadium. Sonny Gray goes for Oakland, while Johnny Cueto will make his second start for the Giants. Here is the Giants lineup, and what to watch for in tonight’s game.

The team will play on the road tonight and face the righty Gray. Conor Gillaspie will be the DH in the American League park hitting sixth, and Gorkys Hernandez will continue his quest to make the team playing center and hitting ninth.

It isn’t where he will likely bat during the regular season, but Angel Pagan hitting leadoff once in a while during the season is going to be important. Having someone who can step right in and not miss a beat leading off a game is a great luxury. It will also be interesting to see his progress in left field.

Along with Mac Williamson, Jarrett Parker continues to be one of the big stories this spring. His powerful bat would be a great one to have coming off the bench this season, and if he catches fire as he did late last year, he could easily increase his role. He is hitting cleanup tonight. And Williamson will probably get a couple at-bats off the bench.

More from SF Giants Prospects

• SF Giants hitting prospects week in review (8/28-9/10)
• SF Giants farm system: Updated top 31 prospect rankings
• SF Giants pitching prospects week in review (8/22-8/28)
• SF Giants hitting prospects week in review (8/21-8/27)
• SF Giants top catching prospect Joey Bart activated off IL

Cueto will be on the mound looking to extend himself a little more now that we are halfway through the month. He is not a typical starter who repeats his delivery every time. So his focus is more on building arm strength and lower body stamina. Results don’t matter as much in the desert, since most pitchers are working on specific pitches.

Also in the news today, as first reported by Henry Schulman Matt Cain threw today:

He also had a picture:

Cain is scheduled to make his Cactus League debut on Friday.

Hopefully Cain will now be able to focus on strength and conditioning instead of rehab. His road had gotten a little bumpy, but he has never showed complacency. He will continue to work hard to get back to being a quality starter, the horse.

Next: Cuts Include Top Prospects

Tonight’s game is on MLB.TV, MLB Network and Comcast Sportsnet California at 7:05pm