Despite allowing just four hits and striking out eight over six shutout innings on Opening Day, Matt Cain enters Sunday's start still searching for his first win of the season.
Cain, the undeniable ace of the Giants' rotation, has become a big-game pitcher for San Francisco over the last few years. He has been known to stop losing streaks and deliver big performances on the highest of stages. While Sunday's game is not dripping with season-altering implications, a win would allow the Giants to start the season with consecutive series victories and not fall back to .500.
Behind Cain, the Giants will feature the same lineup as yesterday.
- Angel Pagan CF
- Marco Scutaro 2B
- Pablo Sandoval 3B
- Buster Posey C
- Hunter Pence RF
- Brandon Belt 1B
- Gregor Blanco LF
- Brandon Crawford SS
- Matt Cain P
Taking the mound for St. Louis is tall right-hander Adam Wainwright. Although Wainwright has battled injuries for much of his career, he has also proven to be one of the game's elite starters when healthy. He finished top-3 in the National League Cy Young race in 2008 and 2009, which ultimately both went to Giants' starter Tim Lincecum. Wainwright will be making his second start of 2013 and is currently 0-1 with a 4.50 ERA.
The lineup for the Cardinals will be much different than yesterday, as outfielder Matt Holliday and infielder Daniel Descalso get the day off.
- Jon Jay CF
- Matt Carpenter 2B
- Allen Craig LF
- Carlos Beltran RF
- Yadier Molina C
- Matt Adams 1B
- Ty Wigginton 3B,
- Pete Kozma SS
- Adam Wainwright P
The Giants lineup has had limited at bats against Adam Wainwright, but have had decent success against him. In their careers, Brandon Crawford is 3-6 with a double and two RBI, Angel Pagan is 4-12 with a pair of RBI and Sandoval, Posey and Scutaro all are hitting north of .300.
Buster Posey, who collected his MVP trophy at yesterday's game, will be looking to get the ball rolling on his 2013 season. Posey has just one extra base hit in 17 at bats, is hitting .235 and has not driven in a single run. To put that into perspective, both Tim Lincecum and Madison Bumgarner have more RBI than Posey.
Hunter Pence and Pablo Sandoval want to keep their hot starts going. The two of them have provided all four of the team's big flies (two each) and have collected a combined 6 RBI.
First-baseman Brandon Belt is currently 0-10 on the season. Although he was the team's best hitter this spring, Belt has struggled to make a whole lot of solid contact in the regular season. There is a chance his stomach bug from last series is having lingering effects on his performance at the plate.
First pitch is scheduled for 1:10 p.m.
Follow Jake Pisani on Twitter @JPisani28
Contact Jake Pisani at JakePisani12@yahoo.com.
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