• Preview
• Recap
• Bleachers
• Game Tracker

Giants seek to rebound in finale with Pirates

Apr 28, 2011 - 2:34 PM (Sports Network) - Coming off their first shutout loss of the season, the defending World Series champion San Francisco Giants attempt to get the bats going today against the Pittsburgh Pirates in the conclusion of a three-game series from PNC Park.

The Giants ended a four-game slide with Tuesday's 3-2 win in 10 innings, then dropped a 2-0 decision last night in the middle test of this set. Young hurler Madison Bumgarner pitched well enough for the win, but fell to 0-4 on the season after allowing a run and five hits in six innings with seven strikeouts. Dan Runzler gave up the other run in relief.

Cody Ross posted a team-high two hits for San Francisco, which is 1-1 so far on a 10-game road trip.

"We're too good of a club to be shut out like this," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said.

Bochy's club is slated to visit the Nationals and Mets on the East Coast trip and will hand the ball to Ryan Vogelsong Thursday. Vogelsong has made two relief appearances this season and will get his first start today. The former Pirate turned in 3 1/3 scoreless innings out of the bullpen in last Friday's 4-1 loss versus Atlanta and allowed two hits with two strikeouts and no walks.

Vogelsong, a Kutztown University product, has never faced the Pirates and will make his first start since going 6-13 in 31 games (26 starts) during the 2004 campaign with Pittsburgh. The right-hander entered the big leagues with the Giants before spending time with the Buccos.

Pittsburgh has alternated wins and losses over its last six games and received a big lift from starting pitcher James McDonald last night. McDonald threw six-plus scoreless innings, allowed four hits and four walks and struck out three batters. Joel Hanrahan posted his seventh save with a scoreless ninth.

"I was focusing more on the location rather than blowing it by them," McDonald said after his first win of the season (1-2). "I was working on changing speeds and keep them off balanced."

Chris Snyder and Jose Tabata both had RBI singles, while Neil Walker and Steve Pearce provided two hits apiece for the Pirates, who will head west to take on the Rockies and Padres after Thursday's game.

The Pirates will go with Jeff Karstens this afternoon and he's 2-0 with a 3.94 earned run average in five games (2 starts) this season. He sent the Pirates to the win column his previous time out in Saturday's 7-2 victory over Washington, as he hurled six innings and gave up two runs with three K's.

Karstens, a right-hander, was coming off three straight no-decisions since winning his 2011 debut April 3 at the Cubs with an inning of relief. Karstens is 0-1 with a 9.00 ERA in two career games (1 start) against San Francisco.

The Giants have won eight of the last 13 meetings with Pittsburgh spanning the last two seasons. The Pirates are shooting for their first series win over San Francisco since taking two of three matchups from July 17-19, 2009.