The San Francisco Giants have another must-win game Wednesday afternoon at Cincinnati, and manager Bruce Bochy has submitted his lineup (* indicates left-handed hitter, # indicates switch-hitter):
Giants lineup set for Game 4
Angel Pagan, cf #
Marco Scutaro, 2b
Pablo Sandoval, 3b #
Buster Posey, 1b
Hunter Pence, rf
Hector Sanchez, c #
Gregor Blanco, lf
Brandon Crawford, ss *
Barry Zito, p *
This lineup is a bit of a surprise as earlier, Bochy had indicated that he was leaning toward having Posey catch Zito. However:
Rookie Hector Sanchez usually caught Zito during the regular season after the rapport they established in the minors last season. But Bochy wants Brandon Belt to play, and not in left field.
Belt, as you can see, is on the bench. So, Bochy's taking a chance. For the Giants' sake, it needs to work. Mike Leake, pressed into service after the injury to Johnny Cueto, gets the start; he hasn't pitched in 11 days, but had an excellent start against the Giants June 29 in San Francisco. He threw a complete game, allowing just one run in a 5-1 Reds win.
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