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Giants eye series win over Padres ahead of road trip

Apr 30, 2014 - 2:51 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - Before they embark on a lengthy road trip, the San Francisco Giants shoot for a series win over the NL West-rival San Diego Padres Wednesday at AT&T Park.

The Giants will start a 10-game road trip this weekend against Atlanta, Pittsburgh and Los Angeles, and evened their three-game set versus the Padres with Tuesday's 6-0 victory. Angel Pagan and Buster Posey both homered and Hector Sanchez drove in three runs for the Giants, who rebounded from Monday's 6-4 loss and won for the fifth time in six tries.

Yusmeiro Petit made a spot start for Matt Cain and allowed three hits and struck out four over six scoreless innings to earn the win. Cain was scratched from his scheduled start after cutting his right index finger.

"Tonight he saved us," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said of Petit. "He used both sides of the plate well and it was fun to watch. To get six innings is always big."

Jean Machi threw two scoreless innings of relief and Santiago Casilla closed the door in the ninth to preserve the shutout.

The Giants are getting their money's worth with veteran right-hander Tim Hudson, who will start Wednesday versus the Padres. Hudson has lasted seven innings or more in each of his five outings and defeated Cleveland in Friday's 5-1 victory, allowing one run and four hits in seven innings.

Hudson, who lost his previous start at San Diego on April 19 despite throwing seven innings of two-run ball in a 3-1 loss, is 2-0 in three home starts this season and 6-2 with a 2.78 ERA in 14 career meetings (13 starts) with the Padres.

San Diego will close out its 10-game road trip Wednesday and couldn't get much going in last night's loss. Everth Cabrera, Chris Denorfia and Donn Roach provided the three hits and starting pitcher Eric Stults was rocked for five runs and seven hits in 2 2/3 innings.

"Tonight I felt like I didn't execute many pitches down in the zone," Stults said. "I knew they were probably going to be aggressive. They usually come out swinging early."

The Padres had won two in a row and are 4-5 on the trip. They will return to Petco Park for a 10-game stay versus Arizona, Kansas City and Miami.

Robbie Erlin looks to stop a personal three-game slide when he takes the mound for the Padres. Erlin has allowed 15 runs during the skid and allowed eight runs on 13 hits in 5 1/3 innings in an 11-1 loss at Washington last Friday.

Erlin fell to 1-3 with a 6.35 earned run average in five games (4 starts) and faced San Francisco in a 4-3 loss on April 20, when he was touched for four runs in six innings of work. In two career starts against San Francisco, the lefty is 0-1 with a 4.76 ERA.

The Padres won two out of three at home against the Giants earlier this month. The teams combined for only 14 runs in that series. However, San Francisco has not lost a home series to the Padres since 2010.