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Giants continue series with sinking Pirates

Aug 10, 2011 - 3:05 PM (Sports Network) - The San Francisco Giants intended on scoring more runs when they acquired outfielder Carlos Beltran from the New York Mets last month.

In the 11 games Beltran has played for his new club, the Giants scored four or more runs only twice. Now the switch-hitting Beltran is nursing a strained right wrist and could miss his third straight game this afternoon versus the Pittsburgh Pirates at AT&T Park.

Beltran has been doing some exercises for the wrist, but is still bothered by pain and is day-to-day. More rest and Thursday's travel day could benefit the slugger, who hasn't played since August 7 versus Philadelphia and is batting .244 with 11 hits in 45 at-bats with San Francisco.

"He's improving but still not quite ready, so he'll stay at day-to-day," Giants manager Bruce Bochy said on the team's website. "If we don't think he's quite ready tomorrow, then with the day off, then we're very optimistic he'll be ready to go at Florida."

The Giants rebounded from a series-opening loss to the Pirates by handing them a 6-0 defeat in Tuesday's second portion of this three-game set. Aubrey Huff and Chris Stewart both homered to power their club to victory, while Madison Bumgarner spun seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts for the win. Sergio Romo and Santiago Casilla each hurled a scoreless inning of relief.

San Francisco, which leads Arizona by a half-game for the NL West lead, is still just 3-6 on this 10-game homestand versus the Diamondbacks, Phillies and Pirates, and won for only the third time in the previous 12 contests. After Wednesday's meeting with Pittsburgh, the Giants will hit the road for 10 games in Florida, Atlanta and Houston. They haven't won a series since taking two of three games in Philadelphia from July 26-28.

Jonathan Sanchez will try to make the flight to south Florida a good one when he takes the mound today against Pittsburgh. That may not be the case since he's 0-3 with a 5.76 earned run average in his past five starts and has lasted only 4 2/3 frames in each of the previous three trips to the hill. Sanchez took the loss in a 9-2 setback versus the Phils on Friday and allowed five runs on seven hits and two walks, falling to 4-6 in 17 starts with a 4.10 ERA.

The lefty is 2-2 in nine outings by the Bay and 2-1 with a 5.16 ERA in six career matchups, four of which have been starts, against the Pirates. Sanchez has not allowed an earned run in his last 14 1/3 innings in this series and hopes to get some run support even though the Giants have scored 405 runs this season. Only Seattle has plated fewer runs this season with 382.

Pittsburgh didn't score any runs in last night's blanking at AT&T Park. It recorded a total of five hits and starter James McDonald was saddled with the loss, as he yielded three runs and four hits in six innings of work.

"His stuff has gotten better as the season has gone along," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle said. "Tonight he was beating people with his fastball and threw some good curveballs. It just seems when he's making mistakes, he's paying for them."

One night after ending a 10-game slide with a 5-0 win in Monday's series opener, the Pirates fell 10 1/2 games off the lead in the NL Central. They will head to Milwaukee for a three-game series with Central-leading Brewers following their set in San Francisco.

Pittsburgh has gone 2-13 in its last 15 contests and was a season-high seven games over .500 (51-44) after a win over Cincinnati on July 19.

Jeff Karstens draws the start for Pittsburgh tonight and carries a three-game road winning streak into this assignment. Karstens is 4-2 with a 3.03 earned run average in 12 road outings this season and is just one strikeout away from his career-best of 72 set last season. He is 0-2 with a 6.45 ERA in his last four starts overall -- all Pirates losses -- and was pounded for nine runs and nine hits in only 3 1/3 innings of a 15-5 defeat versus San Diego on Friday.

Karstens is still a decent 8-6 on the year in 24 games (20 starts) to go along with a 3.05 ERA. In three career games, two of which were starts, against the Giants, the right-hander is 0-2 with a 5.40 ERA. The Giants beat Karstens back on April 28 at PNC Park.

San Francisco won two of three meetings in Pittsburgh from April 26-28 and is 11-6 in this series since the beginning of the 2009 campaign.