Major League Baseball

Orioles-Giants preview

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 12:37 p.m. ET

foxsports

SAN FRANCISCO -- Former first-round draft picks will duel on the mound for the second consecutive game Saturday night when the Baltimore Orioles and San Francisco Giants continue their interleague series.

Orioles right-hander Kevin Gausman, the No. 4 overall pick of the 2012 draft, and Giants left-hander Madison Bumgarner, who went 10th overall in 2007, will square off where Baltimore's Dylan Bundy (fourth overall, 2011) got the better of San Francisco's Matt Cain (25th overall, 2002) in the series opener Friday.

Gausman has never faced the Giants in his four-year major league career, and his early ventures into interleague play generally have not been pleasant. He's 1-4 with a 5.22 ERA in seven starts against National League competition.

Only five pitchers who have made at least seven starts have a worse interleague record over that stretch.

Gausman got a no-decision in his only previous interleague start this season. He was roughed up for four runs on eight hits over five innings in a 6-4 win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on July 6.

The 25-year-old has allowed two or fewer runs in four of five games against American League competition since then, although he has a losing record (2-3) to show for it.

He will be looking to follow in the footsteps of fellow elite prospect Bundy, who limited the struggling Giants to just three hits and one run in 5 2/3 innings in the series opener.

The Giants have alternated wins and losses in their last seven games, totaling just four runs in the four losses.

"Good start to the series," Orioles manager Buck Showalter assessed. "Gutty effort by Dylan. He battled tonight, gave us a chance to win."

Bumgarner, meanwhile, will be seeking to extend his streak of consecutive interleague starts without a loss to six. He's 1-0 in four starts against AL teams this season, having allowed more than two runs in a game just once.

The last time Bumgarner lost an interleague game was more than a year ago -- July 31, 2015 at Texas.

He's never faced the Orioles in his eight-year career that's included 20 interleague starts. The only other teams Bumgarner has never pitched against are the Chicago White Sox and Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim.

Bumgarner hasn't won since July 10, a stretch of five games in which he's allowed six home runs.

The series matches the major league leader in homers (the Orioles, with 174) against the NL leader in homers allowed since the All-Star break (the Giants, with 37 in 25 games).

Orioles slugger Mark Trumbo added to both those totals in the series opener Friday, taking Cain deep for his 33rd home run of the season. First baseman Chris Davis also homered, his 24th.

Trumbo had a home run against Bumgarner last season as a member of the Arizona Diamondbacks.

Giants catcher Buster Posey noted after the loss that he knows what to expect from Bumgarner. The question is: Will the San Francisco offense do enough to support him?

"We have the ability to get on a good streak. That's the way we got to look at it," he noted. "We have to look and say tomorrow is the day we get it going."