San Francisco @ San Diego preview

Last Meeting ( Sep 28, 2012 ) San Francisco 3, San Diego 1

While the San Diego Padres look to finish the season on a high note, the San Francisco Giants are working to finalize their postseason plans. The Giants have already clinched the National League West, giving them extra time to make several key decisions. The team announced that Tim Lincecum will start Sunday’s series finale against the Padres, with Hector Sanchez starting at catcher. Manager Bruce Bochy indicated that Sanchez would also catch Lincecum in the postseason, with Buster Posey starting at first and Brandon Belt likely getting the start in left field for those games.

Of course, it’s still unclear where Lincecum will fall in the postseason rotation. After last Tuesday’s shaky outing against Arizona, the Giants would like to see Lincecum deliver a solid outing on Sunday. Posey, who went 2-for-4 on Friday to raise his batting average to an NL-leading .334, will likely get a few days off before the playoffs. Posey leads the Pirates’ Andrew McCutchen (.330) in the batting race with five games to play. Despite a rough game that included a ball to the larynx on Friday, Posey expects to be in the lineup Saturday against the Padres, who have lost seven of their last 10 games after going on a 19-6 run. San Diego’s starting pitchers have a 5.71 ERA over their last 10 games.

TV: 8:35 p.m. ET, NBCBA (San Francisco), Fox Sports SD (San Diego)

PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants LH Madison Bumgarner (16-10, 3.26 ERA) vs. Padres LH Eric Stults (7-3, 2.81)

Bumgarner gave up three runs (two earned) over 5 2/3 innings last Saturday against San Diego, and he’s 4-2 with a 3.17 ERA in 12 career games (11 starts) against the Padres, including 3-0 with a 3.08 ERA in four starts this season. He boasts a 187-to-47 strikeout-to-walk ratio over 198 2/3 innings.

Stults continued his surprising success this season last Sunday when he held the Giants to three runs over six innings. He’s posted a quality start in five of his last six outings, and the Padres are 9-4 in his first 13 starts. Stults is 3-2 lifetime against the Giants with a 4.76 ERA in 10 games (eight starts).

WALK-OFFS

1. Giants 2B Marco Scutaro singled to extend his hitting streak to a career-best 16 games before exiting Friday’s game because of illness.

2. The Padres are looking for their first series victory over the Giants since taking two of three in the final series of the 2010 season.

3. The Giants’ 92 wins match their regular-season victory total from 2010, when they won the World Series.