• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers

Diamondbacks-Giants Preview

May 30, 2010 - 5:13 AM By SANTOSH VENKATARAMAN STATS Senior Writer

Arizona (20-29) at San Francisco (25-22), 4:05 p.m. EDT

Buster Posey had the same amount of hits in his season debut with the San Francisco Giants as the Arizona Diamondbacks have in the entire weekend series.

Posey and the Giants look to complete a sweep Sunday at AT&T Park and hand the punchless Diamondbacks a seventh straight loss.

Seeking a boost to its offense, San Francisco (26-22) called up Posey from Triple-A Fresno before Saturday's game. The highly-rated prospect did not disappoint. Posey had three hits and three RBIs in his season debut, a 12-1 rout.

"What a great job the kid did," manager Bruce Bochy said. "I'm sure he didn't much sleep last night and then he goes out and gets big hits for us. It's something we needed."

The converted shortstop is now a catcher, but he played first base Saturday. Bochy indicated that Posey will catch at some point.

Posey went 2 for 17 in seven games with the Giants last September.

"That was great, fun and humbling," he said about the big ovation he received before his first at-bat.

Posey's three-hit output matched what the Diamondbacks (20-30) have produced to start this three-game set. Giants starter Matt Cain pitched a one-hitter in Friday's 5-0 win and Jonathan Sanchez and three relievers combined on a two-hitter Saturday.

Arizona, which has totaled 12 runs in its last six games, is trying to avoid matching its season-worst, seven-game slide from May 7-14.

"For a week, we've found ourselves in a rut," manager A.J. Hinch said. "We're not doing a lot of things right and there's not a lot of ways to describe it."

Arizona's woes could be good news for San Francisco starter Todd Wellemeyer, who got hit hard the last time he faced the Diamondbacks. Wellemeyer (3-4, 5.36 ERA) gave up five runs, including three homers, over five innings of a 13-1 road loss May 19.

"They went and got them," said Wellemeyer, who fell to 1-3 with a 5.57 ERA in four starts against Arizona. "I mean hats off to them, but you can't leave anything over the plate to these guys at all."

One of the homers was by Stephen Drew, who's 7 for 11 with two homers in his career against Wellemeyer.

The Giants right-hander bounced back to earn a 4-2 win over Washington on Tuesday, yielding two runs over six innings. He's 3-1 with a 3.38 ERA in four home starts.

Wellemeyer will once again be opposed by right-hander Ian Kennedy (3-3, 3.41), who earned the victory May 19 by yielding one run over eight innings with a career-high nine strikeouts in his lone career start against the Giants.

Kennedy gave up three runs over five innings Tuesday in a 3-2 loss at Colorado.

Mark Reynolds, Kelly Johnson and Rusty Ryal are the only Diamondbacks with hits in this series. Drew, Justin Upton and Chris Young are each 0 for 6 in the first two games.

Arizona has dropped 12 of 14 at AT&T Park, and is 3-11 on the road against NL West opponents.