Tonight at 10:15 p.m. ET the Pittsburgh Pirates (55-49) and San Francisco Giants (57-48) will clash at AT&T Ballpark in a battle of wildcard hopefuls. The Giants currently hold the second and final wildcard spot in the National League, while the Pirates are 1.5 games behind them. Live stream the opener of a three-game set by clicking this link; fans of the Pirates can listen to the radio broadcast on KDKA-FM 93.7, while Giants fans can do the same on KNBR 680. The Giants will toss out their ace Madison Bumgarner (12-7, 3.19 ERA) against Vance Worley (3-1, 3.10 ERA).
While the Giants would be in the playoffs if the season ended today, they are on a four-game losing skid with several teams nipping at their heels. Manager Bruce Bochy talked about simply forgetting about this weekend's sweep against the National League West-leading Dodgers.
"It's going to be important to put it behind us," Bochy said. "We have to regroup."
The Pirates snapped their own losing streak on Sunday with a 16-hit breakout that included four hits off the bat of Josh Harrison. "It was just fun to watch us play today with the energy and the effort that we played with after dropping the first two (which) weren't really close games," manager Clint Hurdle said.
Worley faces a tall task against an ace like Bumgarner, even if Bumgarner's home numbers aren't up to par. Worley is going to use Hurdle's faith in him his last time out, when he was allowed to work out of a sixth-inning jam, as a reserve of confidence.
"You want your staff to believe in you out there," Worley said. "To be yanked out of there, you'd start to question yourself. It's all about how you bounce back after things like that happen."
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