News
Winn thrives hitting against Braves
San Francisco (50-44) at Atlanta (49-46), 10:10 a.m. PT
By Chris Haft / MLB.com
07/22/09 10:29 PM ET
ATLANTA -- One Giant who might mourn Thursday's conclusion of the season series against the Atlanta Braves is Randy Winn. Winn entered Wednesday with a .380 career batting average against Atlanta, highest among all active players. Winn built that figure by hitting safely in 15 of his previous 16 games against Atlanta and recording an outrageous .500 average (29-for-58) with two home runs and eight RBIs. Winn has been especially productive at Turner Field. He began Wednesday's game with a .397 average (29-for-73), four homers and 13 RBIs there, and he added an RBI single in the eighth inning. Lately, Winn has surged overall, regardless of the opponent. Before Wednesday, he had hit safely in 17 of his previous 20 games, collecting multiple hits in 10 of them and hitting .338 (27-for-80) in this span. As usual, Winn has remained a versatile hitter. In the past month he has batted first, second, third, fifth and sixth in the order. Power is the only commodity Winn hasn't provided. He has gone 284 at-bats without homering, eclipsing his previous longest long-ball drought as a Giant (230 at-bats, June 2-Aug. 15, 2008). Winn's longest career stretch without a home run is 300 at-bats in 1999 while playing for Tampa Bay. Pitching matchupSF: LHP Barry Zito (5-10, 4.89 ERA)
Inconsistent all season, Zito took a two-hitter into the seventh inning Saturday at Pittsburgh and trailed only 1-0, but he yielded a seventh-inning run as the Giants fell, 2-0. That thrust another hard-luck defeat upon Zito, who has received the poorest run support in the Major Leagues this season (32 runs in 19 games). The 2002 American League Cy Young Award winner has recorded nine quality starts and has coaxed a staff-high 12 double-play grounders. Zito has performed capably against Atlanta, going 2-1 with a 2.84 ERA in three career confrontations with the Braves. ATL: RHP Kenshin Kawakami (5-7, 4.15 ERA)
In his last outing, Kawakami gave the Braves his second successive quality start but took the loss as his offense couldn't mount anything against Mets starter Johan Santana. Kawakami matched the Mets' ace for five innings before losing command of the strike zone in the sixth. He walked in the game's first run and allowed another on a fielder's-choice groundout. Of his 100 pitches, only 56 were strikes. The Giants beat Kawakami on May 27, when the Japanese righty surrendered three earned runs in 5 2/3 innings. Tidbits
Center fielder Aaron Rowand took extra and regular batting practice Wednesday and grounded out as a pinch-hitter in the eighth inning. Throwing remains a problem for Rowand, who sustained a bruise on his right arm in Monday's series opener when he was struck by a Tommy Hanson pitch. Nevertheless, manager Bruce Bochy held out hope that Rowand "could be ready" to play Thursday. ... Eli Whiteside has been behind the plate for three shutouts in his previous 13 starts, including Jonathan Sanchez's July 10 no-hitter. ... Triple-A Fresno manager Dan Rohn recorded his 1,000th career managerial victory in the Grizzlies' 8-6 triumph over Salt Lake City on Tuesday night. Tickets
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• Friday: Giants (Matt Cain, 11-2, 2.32) at Rockies (Jason Hammel, 5-4, 4.26), 6:10 p.m. PT
• Saturday: Giants (Jonathan Sanchez, 3-8, 4.68) at Rockies (Jorge De La Rosa, 7-7, 4.95), 5:10 p.m. PT
• Sunday: Giants (Ryan Sadowski, 2-2, 4.15) at Rockies (Aaron Cook, 9-3, 3.94), 12:10 p.m. PT
Chris Haft is a reporter for MLB.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs.
