San Francisco Giants vs. Cincinnati Reds Series Preview

The team with baseball's best record continues its tour of the NL Central starting Tuesday, as the San Francisco Giants open up a three-game set in at Great American Ball Park against the Cincinnati Reds.

Cincinnati has won three straight after losing five of six, but still remain seven games behind the division-leading Milwaukee Brewers.

The Giants are red-hot themselves, having won nine of eleven (not counting a suspended contest against the Rockies), opening up baseball's biggest division lead to 7.5 games over the Dodgers.

Snapshot:

Home: Cincinnati Reds

Record: (26-29, 12-12 home, 3rd NL Central)

Away: San Francisco Giants

Record: (37-20, 18-11 road, 1st NL West)

Season Series: no games played

Key stat:

Don't count the Giants as lucky when it comes to their blazing start to 2014. San Francisco is just 11-9 in game decided by one run, and 26-11 in all other contests.

Reds outlook:

Homer Bailey remembers this scene well.

The last time Bailey faced the Giants was July of 2013 - a game in which he threw the second no-hitter of his career in a duel with San Francisco's Tim Lincecum.

Lincecum just happened to throw his own no-hitter just twelve days later after his last historic encounter with Bailey - making this one of the most intriguing return matches of 2014.

Giants outlook:

After falling into an extended 5-for-45 slump at the end of May, Buster Posey hopes that Sunday's 3-for-5 outing against the St. Louis Cardinals is a sign of things starting to look up.

Part of his recent struggles may be attributed to back stiffness which kept him out of three games before his breakout on Sunday.

"I feel pretty good," Posey said, via Yahoo! Sports. "Hopefully, it is something I can manage."

What to watch for:

Aside from the aforementioned Tuesday night grudge match between Bailey and Lincecum, Thursday's series finale should also offer an interesting pitching matchup of note.

S.F's emerging ace Madison Bumgarner (7-3, 2.85) will oppose the Reds' Mike Leake (3-4, 2.92) in a battle of young arms ready to take the next step in their nascent MLB careers.

 

What they are saying about the Giants:

Giants' Hunter Pence thriving in No. 2 role (Yardbarker)

Tim Hudson and Michael Morse have championship envy (Chat Sports)

What they are saying about the Reds:

Bronson Arroyo's honest assessment of the Reds' organization (Chat Sports)

Bailey set to meet Giants for first time since no-no (Official Site of the Reds)

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