Plating runs has come easy for the San Francisco Giants on the road but it's been a different story at home.
That could spell trouble in Tuesday night's series opener with the visiting San Diego Padres as Odrisamer Despaigne has routinely shut them down.
The Giants (38-33) cut into Los Angeles' NL West lead by taking two of three at Dodger Stadium over the weekend, scoring 15 times in the victories. San Francisco's average of 5.11 runs on the road is second in the majors but it's averaging 3.00 at home - baseball's worst mark since the 2011 Giants were at 2.91.
"Sometimes you do press. Why at home is hard to explain," manager Bruce Bochy said after Sunday's 10-2 loss. "You got to keep fighting and hopefully press on the gas a little bit and get things going. It's a good offense if you look at the numbers. It's too good to be going through what we're going through."
The Giants had lost nine straight at home before beating Seattle last Tuesday. Cleanup hitter Buster Posey is batting .179 with three RBIs in his last nine at AT&T Park while Brandon Belt is hitting .185 in his past eight there.
Making matters worse, the Giants are batting .101 against Despaigne (3-5, 4.92 ERA), with Brandon Crawford going 1 for 8 and Posey hitless in 10 at-bats.
Despaigne went 2-0 with a 0.45 ERA in three starts against San Francisco as a rookie last season. He lowered that ERA to 0.36 by throwing 4 2-3 perfect innings of relief in his only 2015 matchup April 9.
The right-hander had a 2.51 ERA over a five-start stretch before permitting six runs - four in the first inning - and eight hits in six innings of Wednesday's 16-2 loss at Oakland.
"It was just one of those situations where it happened so fast," he said.
San Diego (34-38) is having its own offensive problems, scoring three runs or fewer in eight of 10 games. The Padres are batting .175 with runners in scoring position over that stretch and dropped to 2-5 since manager Bud Black was fired with Sunday's 7-2 loss to Arizona.
They have the tough task of facing Madison Bumgarner (7-4, 3.09), who has lost his last two starts despite a 1.69 ERA. He was outdueled by Felix Hernandez on Wednesday, giving up two runs and four hits while striking out nine in eight innings of a 2-0 loss to the Mariners.
Bumgarner has a 1.91 ERA in his last five home starts, a stretch that began when he held the Padres to two hits over 7 1-3 innings in a 2-0 win May 4. The left-hander has limited San Diego to two earned runs or fewer eight times in 10 matchups at AT&T Park.
However, Bumgarner's worst outing of 2015 also came against the Padres. He surrendered five runs and 10 hits in three innings of a 10-2 road loss April 11, his shortest start since 2011.
Justin Upton is 3 for 5 against Bumgarner this season and 12 for 30 all-time. Upton's .400 average is the highest of any of the 29 players that have faced Bumgarner at least 25 times.
Derek Norris has also given Bumgarner trouble, going 6 for 14 (.429) but Matt Kemp is 4 for 25 (.160) against him since 2012.
Norris, 3 for 20 against the Giants this season, is hitting .333 versus lefties compared to .233 against righties.
