Giants look to reignite offense in series finale vs. Cardinals

After cooling down for a night, the San Francisco Giants will try to restart their offense when they close their weekend road series against the St. Louis Cardinals on Sunday afternoon.

The Giants (72-70) had won five straight games and 11 of 12 before squandering a ninth-inning lead in their 3-2 loss on Saturday night.

San Francisco remains four games behind the New York Mets in the race for the final wild-card spot in the National League. The Cardinals (71-72) moved within 5 1/2 games of the Mets, who lost 6-3 to the Cincinnati Reds on Saturday.

San Francisco scored 46 runs in its previous five games.

"We go into the game feeling good about our offense, and there's a reason for it," Giants manager Bob Melvin said after his team won 8-2 Friday. "It's contagious, just like it goes the other way. And right now, offensively, we feel like we're as good as we've been all year."

Those good feelings ended Saturday when the Giants went 1-for-7 hitting with runners in scoring position. On Sunday, the team will turn to right-hander Kai-Wei Teng (2-3, 7.23 ERA) when this series concludes Sunday.

Teng earned an 8-2 victory Monday over the Colorado Rockies in his last start. He allowed those two runs on nine hits in 5 1/3 innings while striking out eight and walking none.

This will be his first career outing against St. Louis.

The Cardinals are missing third baseman Nolan Arenado (shoulder impingement), second baseman Brendan Donovan (groin strain), first baseman Willson Contreras (suspension due to a tirade Aug. 25 against Pittsurgh) and outfielder Alec Burleson (sore wrist) in this series.

Manager Oliver Marmol has been testing prospects such as infielder Thomas Saggese and catcher Jimmy Crooks while getting a head start on the next spring training.

"With as many young guys as we've got, you have to make the most of every opportunity and make sure you're not missing an opportunity to teach or grow," Marmol said. "There are still games where you don't want to say, ‘Don't worry about it. Keep going.' There are certain moments you can learn from."

Saggese got an RBI single in Saturday's comeback victory, which was capped by Jordan Walker's winning two-run double in the ninth inning to snap his 0-for-25 slump.

"Honestly, it was just about getting into the box and putting it in play," Walker said. "I kept it that simple and swung at the first one that looked good to me.

"It was a pretty surreal feeling, because it has been a while since I had a hit. So to come through right there after the whole team had rallied there off a really good reliever, it was super sick, and it was some great team energy."

St. Louis right-hander Sonny Gray (12-8, 4.43 ERA) will draw Sunday's start. He allowed seven runs on 11 hits, including three homers, in six innings during an 11-3 loss to the Athletics on Monday.

"Stay out of the middle of the plate, and I definitely didn't do that," Gray said. "Early in the count, I stayed across the middle of the plate, and then they didn't miss. Stay out of the middle of the plate. Maybe just too many strikes in the middle of the plate."

Gray is 3-1 with a 2.93 ERA in seven career starts against the Giants.

--Field Level Media