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CHC@SF: Bumgarner fans 11 Cubs over eight innings

Coming off one of their best wins this season, the Padres are hoping more results like Tuesday's can help bring them out of the National League West's cellar.

Now that they're finally a bit healthier -- thanks to the recent returns of Carlos Quentin and Logan Forsythe, who hit the tying and winning homers, respectively, Tuesday night -- the Padres look to earn their first series victory in more than two weeks when they face San Francisco on Wednesday afternoon.

They will have to do so against a Giants squad that was red-hot until Forsythe's walk-off homer in Tuesday's series opener. Still, San Francisco has won four of its last five and seven of nine, pulling within four games of the first-place Dodgers.

It's a pair of southpaws taking the mound at Petco Park on Wednesday as San Diego's Clayton Richard faces San Francisco's Madison Bumgarner.

Richard worked sharply and quickly against the D-backs his last time out, allowing one run on seven hits over 6 2/3 innings. It helps that he'll be at Petco Park, where he sports a 2.12 ERA -- as opposed to his 6.57 mark on the road.

Bumgarner is coming off one of the best games of his career, reaching double digits in strikeouts against the Cubs while walking none for the first time. He lasted into the ninth and lowered his ERA to 3.04.

But Bumgarner will have to contend with one of the hottest hitters in baseball right now in Quentin.

The Padres activated Quentin from the disabled list last week after he missed the first month and a half of the season to recover from surgery on his right knee. Since then, he is 12-for-23 with nine extra-base hits. He homered twice in Tuesday's win.

"I'm seeing the ball well and I'm not trying to do too much with it," Quentin said. "I'm just focused on having quality at-bats. When you're doing that, you do everything you can to take advantage of it."

Giants: Posey second in All-Star voting
Giants catcher Buster Posey is ranked second among all NL backstops in All-Star voting this season.

"It's nice to be recognized by the fans," Posey said, "I'm still concentrating on winning ballgames."

After missing much of last season with left leg injuries, Posey is hitting .294 with six homers and 30 RBIs. He trails only the Cardinals' Yadier Molina, but it remains a tight race.

• Center fielder Angel Pagan takes a 13-game hitting streak into Wednesday's game. The stretch marks Pagan's third hitting streak of at least 10 games this season.

• The Giants have played in 35 games that were decided by two runs or fewer, the most in the Major Leagues. They are 21-14 in those contests.

Padres: Street makes return
Closer Huston Street was reinstated to the active roster Tuesday, exactly one month after he hit the disabled list with a strained right lat muscle.

He worked a scoreless but tense ninth inning in which he loaded the bases but induced Posey to ground out to end the frame. When Forsythe walked off, Street picked up the win.

"The first two weeks feel like a year," Street said of his time on the disabled list. "The last two weeks feel like an hour."

• Lefty reliever Joe Thatcher has stranded 15 of the 17 runners he has inherited this season.

• In his last 23 games, Will Venable has posted a .613 slugging percentage (.987 on-base plus slugging percentage). Among Padres with enough at-bats to qualify, Venable's .451 slugging percentage is the highest.

Worth noting
• In 14 plate appearances against Richard, Giants outfielder Melky Cabrera is hitting .333 with a pair of doubles.

• The Giants hold a 10-5 edge over San Diego in their last 15 games played at Petco Park.

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