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Sep 23, 2010 - 5:28 AM By NICOLINO DIBENEDETTO STATS Writer

San Francisco (85-66) at Chicago (68-82), 7:05 p.m. EDT

A sputtering offense has dropped the San Francisco Giants out of first place in the NL West with a vital series looming.

Facing a red-hot Ryan Dempster may not be the ideal way to get the bats going again.

The Giants will try to rebound from their latest shutout defeat when they conclude a three-game series against the Chicago Cubs on Thursday night at Wrigley Field.

San Francisco (85-67) is one-half game behind first-place San Diego in the West, 2 1/2 games ahead of third-place Colorado, and one-half game behind Atlanta for the wild card.

The Giants open a three-game road set against the Rockies on Friday, and could stand to see its bats heat up before that key series. San Francisco is batting .217 in its last 11 games. In the five losses during that stretch, the Giants have batted .143 and gotten outscored 9-1.

"We're just not putting together smart at-bats," first baseman Aubrey Huff told the team's official website. "With us, it seems like if we score early we got it. We relax and score some runs. It seems like the farther along we get with no runs, the fourth or fifth (inning), you feel like everybody's tensing up, trying to hit a home run. It doesn't work that way. We have to have smarter at-bats, work counts."

The Giants took Tuesday's series opener 1-0 behind a two-hitter from Matt Cain and two relievers, but mustered only six hits in a 2-0 loss Wednesday. It was their 16th shutout defeat - only the Los Angeles Dodgers (17) have been shut out more often in 2010.

"We can't just rely on pitching. We're going to have to start swinging and get some runs," manager Bruce Bochy said. "Again, we've just got to get these bats going."

San Francisco may be in for another tough night at the plate against Dempster (14-10, 3.50 ERA), who has won consecutive starts by throwing 14 scoreless innings - his longest such streak as a starter. The right-hander threw 30 1-3 shutout innings over 31 relief appearances bridging the 2005 and 2006 seasons when he was Chicago's closer.

Now, he's trying to finish another year in strong fashion along with the Cubs (69-82), who have won nine of 11. Dempster is 7-3 with a 1.90 ERA in his last 14 September starts dating to 2008.

"The stronger you finish this year, the better, more positive things there are for next year," he said. "That's why I think it is important to go through the finish line and not to it."

Dempster is 2-1 with a 2.97 ERA in his last five starts against the Giants, including an 8-6 victory Aug. 10 in San Francisco. He yielded one earned run in 6 2-3 innings.

The Giants will hand the ball to rookie Madison Bumgarner (5-6, 3.27), who is all too familiar with his club's offensive shortcomings.

The 21-year-old left-hander has a 1.38 ERA in his last four starts but no wins to show for it.

Bumgarner has received zero run support in each of his last three outings. He yielded two runs and nine hits in 5 2-3 innings of a 3-0 home loss to Milwaukee on Friday.

He did not receive a decision against the Cubs at home Aug. 9, allowing three runs in 5 2-3 innings of San Francisco's 4-3, 11-inning victory.