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Diamondbacks-Giants Preview

May 29, 2010 - 6:09 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Arizona (20-29) at San Francisco (25-22), 9:05 p.m. EDT

Jonathan Sanchez has a tough act to follow as he tries to close out a forgettable month.

He'll try to avoid going winless in May on Saturday night when the San Francisco Giants and Arizona Diamondbacks continue a three-game set at AT&T Park.

Sanchez (2-4, 3.00 ERA) went 2-1 with a 1.85 ERA in four April starts before going 0-3 with a 3.86 in his next five outings. The Giants (25-22) have scored a total of 12 runs in his winless rut, failing to score for him three times in that span and five times in his nine starts this year.

One of those outings was Sunday in a 3-0 loss at Oakland. Sanchez allowed two runs over seven sharp innings.

"It's kind of hard when you're battling out there to win games for the team," Sanchez admitted.

The left-hander was outstanding against Arizona (20-29) last year, going 3-1 with a 2.67 ERA in five starts. Mark Reynolds (1 for 10), Stephen Drew (0 for 12) and Justin Upton (3 for 13) all fared poorly in those games.

Reynolds was the only Diamondback to reach base with a double and a hit by pitch in Friday's 5-0 loss as Giants starter Matt Cain pitched his second straight complete game. Cain struck out a season-high nine batters and did not issue a walk.

"It doesn't get much more dominant than that," Diamondbacks manager A.J. Hinch said.

The Diamondbacks are two losses shy of a season-worst seven-game slide May 7-14. They've scored 11 runs over the last five games, with Upton (1 for 15) and Conor Jackson (2 for 18) slumping in that stretch.

The Giants' Pablo Sandoval hit a solo home run leading off the eighth, ending a 124 at-bat homerless drought dating to April 21 at San Diego. Sandoval also had a sacrifice fly and an RBI single, giving him a season-best three RBIs.

Freddy Sanchez doubled and walked a day after he hit a go-ahead, two-run single in the seventh inning of a 5-4 win over Washington. Sanchez has reached base in seven of his eight plate appearances the past two games.

The Diamondbacks will give Billy Buckner (0-2, 9.00) his third start this season since he was called up from the minors May 18. He pitched OK that night when he yielded two runs over five innings in an 8-0 loss at Florida before he failed to record an out in the fifth Sunday and gave up eight runs in a 12-4 loss to Toronto.

It may be tough for the right-hander to bounce back Saturday. Buckner went 0-2 with a 9.90 ERA in two starts against the Giants last year, with Sandoval going 5 for 6 with a homer against him.

Arizona has dropped 11 of 13 at AT&T Park, and is 3-10 on the road against NL West opponents. The Giants are 5-12 against division foes.