Oakland @ San Francisco preview
Oracle Park
Last Meeting ( Jun 11, 2010 ) Oakland 2, San Francisco 6
A pleasing sight happened during San Francisco's victory on Friday night when Pat Burrell slammed his first home run since joining the Giants.
San Francisco signed the one-time homer-hitting machine after the Tampa Bay Rays released him in hopes Burrell can add some pop to the lineup.
Burrell’s homer set the tone for the Giants victory over the Oakland Athletics on Friday in the opener of a three-game series that continues Saturday night in San Francisco.
The Giants scored just one run in three games against Oakland last month and were blanked in the first two innings on Friday before Burrell belted a two-run homer down the left-field line that curved around the foul pole.
If Burrell can regain the form that saw him put together eight consecutive 20-homer seasons with the Philadelphia Phillies, then his signing would be quite a score for San Francisco, which is paying him the pro-rated part of the minimum salary. Tampa Bay is on the hook for the bulk of his 2010 salary.
The Giants initially sent Burrell to Triple-A Fresno upon signing him and recalled him last week.
He had back-to-back two-hit games against the Cincinnati Reds earlier this week and is hitting .333 in his first 18 at-bats with the Giants.
If Burrell is back in the lineup on Saturday, it will be against a pitcher he has feasted on during his career.
Burrell is hitting .381 with three homers and six RBIs in 21 career at-bats against Oakland starter Ben Sheets.
Sheets (2-5, 4.96 ERA) has gone six straight starts since last recording a victory. His last win came May 8 against Tampa Bay.
The hurler tossed six innings of two-hit shutout ball against San Francisco on May 23 but wasn’t involved in the decision. He struck out eight and walked two.
Sheets gave up four runs – three earned – and six hits in six innings against the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim in his last start.
Barry Zito (6-2) starts for the Giants and one of his two losses this season came against Oakland
Zito allowed six runs and nine hits in 6 2/3 innings in what was his first rough outing of the season when the Athletics beat the Giants, 6-1, on May 21.
The hurler hasn’t won since May 16 against Houston. He gave up five runs and eight hits in 5 2/3 innings against Cincinnati in his last start.
Zito is 0-4 with a 8.85 ERA in four career starts against Oakland, his former team.
Athletics third baseman Kevin Kouzmanoff continued his hot hitting by going 3-for-4 with an RBI during Friday’s opening game of the series. Kouzmanoff has a 12-game hitting streak and is batting .435 (20-for-46) during the streak.