San Francisco Giants fly to Cincinnati for weekend series

Game One: Kelly (0-1, 1.42 ERA, 0.95 WHIP) vs. DeSclafani (6-3, 4.46 ERA, 1.22 WHIP)

In a fill-in role for the newly injured Dereck Rodriguez, the Giants will send out Casey Kelly.  His first long relief appearance with the Giants was stellar. He relieved Ty Blach after he struggled through four innings, tossing five of his own, giving up only two hits and striking out three batters. His next relief appearance was in extras against the Dodgers, where he gave up two hits and a sac fly to allow a walk-off in the 12th inning.

The Reds have a tougher time hitting right-handed pitching than left-handed, and are at their worst offensive splits since the month of May. Eugenio Suarez is the only guy with experience against Kelly, with one strikeout in one at-bat. This is Kelly’s first start since May of 2016 when he was with the Braves. He hurled five innings against the Phillies, giving up three earned runs and seven hits.

Opposing him is Anthony DeSclafani, who has pitched wonderfully in his last two starts, including a seven inning shutout of the Diamondbacks. Unfortunately for him, the last two starts came after three consecutive starts where he couldn’t get past the fifth inning. He has not faced the Giants yet this season, and the lineup does not have a lot of history against him.

The player who has the most is Andrew McCutchen (3-for-13, 1 2B, 2 RBI). Although the numbers aren’t great, over the last three season McCutchen has hit 7 home runs and tallied 20 RBI at Great American Ballpark. The guy with the best history in the lineup goes to Brandon Belt, who is 3-for-3 lifetime with a home run and a double.

Game Two: Bumgarner (4-4, 2.71 ERA, 1.27 WHIP) vs. Harvey (5-7, 5.19 ERA, 1.32 WHIP)

The Giants will send out their ace Madison Bumgarner in the Saturday evening game. August has not been so friendly to Bumgarner’s WHIP, and had it not been for a 9th inning rally, he likely would’ve gotten his fifth loss of the season. The walk and hit totals over the last month and a half have been concerning, but luckily have not hurt the Giants too much.

Joey Votto presents the biggest challenge to the lefty, with six hits in seventeen at-bats, including one home run. Billy Hamilton and Scooter Gennett also have home runs against Bumgarner.

Since joining the Reds in May, Matt Harvey has been as inconsistent as they come. This month has been no different, as Matt Harvey has both a seven inning start and a four inning start under his belt. I’m sure you can tell which one was the worse of the two. Be that as it may, Harvey is 1-2 over his last five starts, giving up an average of 3-4 runs and 5-6 hits per game.

Buster Posey has some good history against Harvey, with five hits in eight at-bats, including two doubles and a home run. McCutchen, to no surprise, also hits Harvey pretty well. He gave up three earned runs and seven hits over four innings at AT&T Park in May.