Since the under 6.5 never came close in yesterday's football game, I was forced into action and needed to fire my publicist.
Edinson Volquez has had a rebirth in the majors and has pitched very well for Pittsburgh this season. 3.04 era this season is his career best. His catcher Russell Martin will start tonight but he has been dealing with hamstring issues. His backup Chris Stewart also is banged up as well. He got hit on the hand on a back swing by Reds pitcher Cueto on Sunday. Volquez has a career 5.72 era against the Giants. That's just not sexy. Even though you can make the case he has improved due to tweaking his mechanics and controlling his composure, he still is somebody who is scary to gamble on in this spot. He also has made the most starts(32) out of all Pittsburgh starters this season. One has to be very wary of how much he really has left although he did have a great September posting a 1.08 era.
We know the San Francisco Giants don't WOW you with their bats but in a do or die game, they don't have to wow you because they have somebody like Madison Bumgarner at their disposal. Sending somebody with his type of experience is crucial. You can make the case Lester had experience in which he did but maybe I overlooked something last night as did many others. Maybe Lester wasn't feeling Oakland. He will not be pitching for Oakland next year and maybe he just wasn't all there. Bumgarner has been a Giant all his career. At the age of 25, he's already had 7 postseason starts to go along with 2 world series rings.
All the above and the fact Pirates don't necessarily fare well against left handed pitching will probably be the difference.
San Francisco Giants -112