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Rockies-Giants Preview

May 2, 2010 - 12:42 AM By JEFF MEZYDLO STATS Senior Writer

Colorado (11-12) at San Francisco (13-9), 4:05 p.m. EDT

Overshadowed by some of his better-known teammates, Jonathan Sanchez is nonetheless off to a strong start for San Francisco.

The left-hander looks to help the host Giants to a series sweep of the struggling Colorado Rockies on Sunday.

After a pair of inconsistent seasons starting for San Francisco (14-9), Sanchez (2-1, 1.85 ERA) now appears comfortable as the team's fourth starter behind Tim Lincecum, Barry Zito and Matt Cain.

While Lincecum (1.27 ERA) and Zito (1.53) are both 4-0 and among the major-league leaders in earned run average, Sanchez has more than held his own. He's struck out 33 batters in four games and left-handed hitters are 0 for 14 against him.

"You want to be like them," Sanchez told the Giants' official website. "You want to be in the All-Star Game. You want to win a Cy Young. You want to be a 15-, 20-game winner."

It's uncertain if Sanchez is headed down that path. The fifth-year pitcher threw a no-hitter in 2009, but went 17-24 during the last two seasons as a full-time starter. However, the strong start to 2010 has him pitching with confidence.

"That's the first thing you have to have," said Sanchez, who gave up one run in five innings of a 5-1 victory over Philadelphia on Monday. "If you don't have confidence, you can't throw the pitch."

Sanchez is 2-3 with a 6.43 ERA in eight career starts versus the Rockies, but pitched well in the most recent meeting, giving up a run and two hits while striking out eight in five innings of a 6-3 win at Colorado on Aug. 21.

He'll have a tough act to follow after Cain pitched eight scoreless innings and yielded one of Colorado's three hits in the Giants' 6-1 win Saturday. Aubrey Huff, Bengie Molina and Juan Uribe each homered for San Francisco, which has won six of eight overall and seven of eight against Colorado (11-13), which has lost three in a row.

Huff is 5 for 6 in his last two games after going 2 for 23 in his previous seven.

The Giants' lineup, which has plated 28 runs in the last five games, could get stronger with center fielder Aaron Rowand expected to come off the disabled list. Batting .304, Rowand hasn't played since he was hit in the face by a pitch from Los Angeles' Vicente Padilla on April 16.

San Francisco will face Colorado's Jhoulys Chacin (0-0, 0.00), who will make his second career start and first of the season.

The right-hander, who was called up from the minors and worked a perfect ninth inning in a 12-1 win over Arizona on Tuesday, was 3-0 with a 1.69 ERA in four starts at Triple-A Colorado Springs.

Chacin struck out two and walked one in an inning out of the bullpen against the Giants last July 25.

He'll try to give Colorado's bullpen a needed reprieve. Rockies starters have pitched only 11 innings during the three-game skid, allowing 16 runs and 12 walks.

The Rockies are also slumping offensively, with nine runs in their last four road games.

"We're trying way too hard to hit the ball out of the park," manager Jim Tracy said. "When you do that, you pull off the ball and bad things start to happen."

Troy Tulowitzki, who doubled and scored the lone run Saturday for the Rockies, is 5 for 12 with a double, triple and home run versus Sanchez.