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Giants-Reds Preview

Jun 9, 2010 - 3:49 AM By ALAN FERGUSON STATS Writer

San Francisco (31-25) at Cincinnati (33-25), 7:10 p.m. EDT

While his two Cy Young Award-winning teammates have struggled lately, the San Francisco Giants' Jonathan Sanchez has been steady for much of the season.

With better run support recently, Sanchez has finally started to see positive results.

The Giants will try to help the left-hander win his third straight start and earn his third victory in as many matchups with the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday night.

After hot starts, the Cy Young winners in San Francisco's rotation - Tim Lincecum and Barry Zito - are 0-3 with a 6.00 ERA in their combined eight starts since May 19. Aside from last season's no-hitter against San Diego, Sanchez (4-4, 2.63 ERA) hasn't drawn as much attention, but he's just outside the NL's top 10 in ERA and strikeouts (68).

Sanchez has allowed three earned runs or fewer in nine of his 11 starts, but he's failed to win much partly because the Giants (32-25) provided him just 14 runs in his first nine outings - none in his four losses.

He had gone winless in five straight starts before winning his last two outings as he was given 13 runs of support. Sanchez yielded one earned run and seven hits in 11 1-3 innings in that span.

He gave up four unearned runs in the second inning Friday before settling down - retiring 13 straight at one point - and pitched into the seventh as San Francisco rallied for a 6-4 win.

"That's where he's grown as a pitcher," catcher Eli Whiteside told the Giants' official website. "He came right back out and went at them. Give him credit for keeping us in the ballgame."

Sanchez will face the Reds (33-26), losers in six of nine, for the first time since 2008 but has a 1.32 ERA while winning his two career starts against them.

The Giants beat Cincinnati 3-0 on Tuesday for their fifth win in six games. Juan Uribe homered in that victory after driving in four runs in Monday's series-opening 6-5 win.

Uribe has a team-best 38 RBIs, including nine in his last five contests.

"This guy - you hate to think of where we would be without him," manager Bruce Bochy said.

The veteran infielder, however, is 1 for 6 against Aaron Harang (4-5, 5.43), the Reds' scheduled starter Wednesday.

Like Sanchez, Harang hasn't gotten much help from his teammates until recently. He was given 18 runs in his first 10 starts but also had a 5.98 ERA.

The right-hander has received 21 runs in his last three games and has gone 2-0. He has a 2.45 ERA in his last two outings but threw 98 pitches over a season-low four innings Friday in a 4-2 loss at Washington.

"I just flat out threw too many pitches," Harang told the Reds' official website. "They were doing a good job fighting some pitches off and making me work deep into counts."

Harang is 4-6 with a 3.62 ERA in 12 career starts against the Giants but was 1-0 with a 1.93 ERA in two matchups last season.

Harang hasn't earned three straight wins since taking four in a row in 2007, while Sanchez hasn't won three consecutive starts since a career-best, four-game run in 2008.