NL wild card game: Breaking down Giants vs. Pirates
A look at Wednesday night's National League wild card playoff between the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates:
Time, TV: 8:07 ET, ESPN
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Matchup: Madison Bumgarner (18-10, 2.98 ERA) vs. Edinson Volquez (13-7, 3.04 ERA).
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This season: The Pirates won the series 4-2, taking two of three one-run games during their May series in Pittsburgh and the first two of a three-game set in San Francisco in late July.
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Bumgarner vs. the Pirates: Bumgarner has faced Pittsburgh only four times in his career, going 1-3 with a 3.24 ERA. The Pirates battered him for five runs in four innings in his one start against them this season, a 5-0 Pittsburgh win on July 28 at AT&T Park.
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Volquez vs. Giants: Volquez has a career 2-2 record with a 5.72 ERA in 11 starts against San Francisco, which he didn't face this year. Volquez last beat the Giants in 2008, a stretch covering nine starts.
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Trending up: Volquez and the Pirates have been on a roll. After adjusting his mechanics to improve his command, Volquez began to look like the All-Star he was back in 2008. Before his start on June 23, Volquez had a 4.67 ERA, a run better than the previous year's 5.71 but still pretty inflated. In his 17 starts after that, he went 9-1 with a 1.85 ERA and a .230 opponents' batting average. His turnaround contributed to the 17-6 September surge that secured Pittsburgh a wild-card spot. The Pirates finished third in the NL in home runs and hit at least one in each of their last seven games. The Giants got most of their middle of the order in place with Brandon Belt's late-season return from a third stint on the disabled list. Belt seemed to find his stroke in the final week, batting .381 in his last six games. He joins Buster Posey – who batted .393 with 18 RBI in September – as dangerous Giants hitters swinging the bat well. Michael Morse, however, is still out with an oblique injury.
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Trending down: The health of the Pirates catchers is a major concern entering the postseason. Starter Russell Martin, a force behind and at the plate, is nursing a tender hamstring and sat out the last two games, while backup Chris Stewart injured a wrist when hit by a backswing in the last game of the season. The Pirates' bullpen, a strong suit most of the year, stumbled at the end, allowing nine runs in 5 2/3 innings. The Giants enter October without much momentum, after going 13-12 in September, losing leadoff man Angel Pagan to back surgery and backing into the wild-card when the Milwaukee Brewers lost Thursday. Pablo Sandoval batted .218 in the final month and finished in a stretch where he drove in runs in just one of 16 games. Hunter Pence also cooled off late with a .165 September after hitting at least .270 in every previous month.
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Close and late: Both teams changed closers during the season but have had a steady late-inning arrangement for the last three months. Mark Melancon replaced Jason Grilli as the top ninth-inning option on June 20 and became such an effective closer – converting 33 of 37 save chances, including the last 11 – that the Pirates traded away Grilli. They also have Tony Watson (10-2, 1.63 ERA) as a top-notch lefty reliever. The Giants deposed closer Sergio Romo after he blew three of five save chances in mid-to-late June, flip-flopping him with setup man Santiago Casilla, a harder thrower. Casilla wound up saving 19 games and had a strong September, and Romo eventually found his stride as well, registering a 1.13 ERA over the last two months. Javier Lopez, the lefty specialist, has struggled of late.
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In the end: The Pirates tied for the best home record in the NL at 51-30, and that edge is especially valuable in a do-or-die game like this. They're a hot team with a hot pitcher playing at home, a tough combination to beat. The Giants are hoping Bumgarner will deliver a performance similar to his two World Series starts, in which he pitched a total of 15 innings while allowing five hits and no runs. Anything short of that, it would be hard to envision San Francisco winning.