Wednesday night baseball and we will see the San Francisco Giants take on the Atlanta Braves in game 3 of their 4 game set from Turner Field. The game is scheduled for a 7:10 (ET) pm start time and it will be televised live on CS Bay Area (San Francisco) and SportSouth (Atlanta). Currently the odds have Atlanta favored at -110, while San Francsico is dogs of +104. The total for the game sits at 8.5 runs.
Free Analysis: San Francisco (50-40) arrived in Atlanta having scored the sixth-fewest runs in the majors, but its offense put on a display against Jair Jurrjens in Tuesday's 9-0 win. All-Star Buster Posey, a Georgia native, had his second straight three-hit game and drove in a season-high five runs, while Melky Cabrera finished with two hits and scored twice for the Giants, who've won all four games since the Midsummer Classic after a 2-7 stretch heading into the break. San Francisco finished with 13 hits and is one victory away from winning its second series at Turner Field since its opening in 1997. Ryan Vogelsong (7-4, 2.36 ERA) looks to pitch the NL West-leading Giants to a season-high fifth straight victory Wednesday night. Vogelsong hasn't pitched since July 7, when he gave up three runs and eight hits in seven innings of 3-1 defeat to Pittsburgh. It was only the Giants' second loss in the right-hander's last 13 outings - all of which have been quality starts. Although Vogelsong has been tough to score on, he hasn't been quite as sharp on the road, with a 3.59 ERA in seven outings. This will be the first career start against the Braves for Vogelsong, who made a relief appearance versus them in April 2011. Right-handers are hitting just .217 against Vogelsong. The Braves (49-40) entered Tuesday's game averaging 6.1 runs during a season-high seven-game winning streak, but they were five-hit by Barry Zito and a pair of relievers. Two-time All-Star Michael Bourn, batting .409 with five runs in his previous five games, was hitless in four at-bats, while Jason Heyward and Chipper Jones were a combined 0 for 7. While Vogelsong was magnificent for much of the season's first half, Minor's spot in the rotation has seemingly been in jeopardy since the end of April. It was acknowledged before his final start before the break that Minor (5-6, 5.97) needed a solid showing to help keep his job. The left-hander delivered, allowing three runs and three hits in 6 1-3 innings of a 7-3 victory over the Chicago Cubs on July 5. It was just his second quality start in his last 12 outings, and manager Freddie Gonzalez hopes it's a sign of things to come. The middle innings have been troublesome for Minor all season. Opponents are hitting .333 against the left-hander in the fourth inning, .338 in the fifth and .300 in the sixth.
Free Pick: The Braves just had a long winning streak snapped last night and I look for them to lose 2 in a row here. The Giants are playing with a lot of confidence right now and have Ryan Vogelsong on the mound, who has the 5th best ERA ion the league and if Barry Zito can shut down the Braves then so can Ryan. Mike Minor has really had a bad year and is a bad start away from getting demoted. He is 3-2 but with a 5.14 ERA at home. The Braves offense has bailed him out at home, but may have hard time producing much offense off of Vogelsong tonight. The Giants are a much better offensive team away from home and they come in averaging 4.6 rpg away from, compared to just 3.36 in their own park. The Giants are 18-9 vs lefties on the year, whyile the Braves are just 23-23 at home. Take the Giants here.
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MLB Free Picks: San Francisco Giants at Atlanta Braves Betting
What baseball bettors need to know about Giants at Braves on Wednesday (7/18/12) - with Pregame.com's Scott Spreitzer and host Marco D'Angelo.