Marlon Byrd has been a key contributor during the Cincinnati Reds' modest winning streak. He's also been very good against the San Francisco Giants of late.
Looking for a fourth straight victory, Byrd and the Reds try to continue their recent success against the visiting Giants on Friday night.
Byrd delivered a go-ahead two-run single in the fifth inning and a tiebreaking solo homer in the eighth to help give Cincinnati (18-17) a 4-3 victory over San Francisco on Thursday. The Reds have won five straight and 12 of their last 15 against the Giants (17-18), who have dropped two in a row by the same score.
After batting .169 with two homers and eight RBIs in 21 April games, the 37-year-old Byrd is hitting .342 with six home runs and 14 RBIs in 12 contests this month. He's homered in two straight games for the second time in May and has driven in five during Cincinnati's three-game run.
"He got off to a slow start, but he worked diligently," manager Bryan Price said. "He labored to get his swing worked out and it's paying dividends now."
While playing for four different teams, Byrd is batting .324 with four home runs and 16 RBIs in 16 games against the Giants since the start of the 2011 season.
"I have to prove to the people who believe in me, for putting me out there after the April I had," he said. "It's easy to try and go in another direction, which (Price) could have done. But he kept faith in me."
Byrd, though, is 4 for 18 with a home run and four strikeouts against Madison Bumgarner (3-2, 3.30 ERA).
The San Francisco ace allowed three runs over 21 2-3 innings to go 2-0 in a three-start stretch before yielding the same amount in the fourth inning of the five he lasted in Saturday's 6-2 loss to Miami. Though the left-hander struck out 10, he hopes to be more efficient after totaling 99 pitches during a relatively short outing.
"I'm just letting the strikeouts come," he said. "I just got to make pitches."
Bumgarner allowed a homer to Todd Frazier and two other hits in eight innings of a 6-1 victory at Cincinnati on June 5, then 22 days later was tagged for five runs and nine hits over six of a 6-2 home loss to the Reds.
Frazier is 4 for 9 with that home run versus Bumgarner.
Teammate Jason Marquis (3-2, 5.66) had his three-start winning streak end after he gave up five runs and 10 hits, including three homers, over 5 2-3 innings of an 8-2 loss in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader against the Chicago White Sox.
"It's no fun going out there and giving up five runs," the right-hander told MLB's official website.
Marquis is 7-5 with a 2.84 ERA in 16 starts against the Giants, but last faced them with San Diego in 2013.
San Francisco's Joe Panik, who has never faced Marquis, will take a 10-game hitting streak into this contest.
It's uncertain if Cincinnati's Brandon Phillips will miss a third straight game with a sprained left big toe. He's 5 for 13 against Bumgarner during the regular season.
