Giants-Red Sox preview
Jake Peavy is well-versed in the challenges of winning at Fenway Park, something the San Francisco Giants have never done entering their two-game series with the Boston Red Sox.
Peavy, who won a World Series title with Boston in 2013, has as many victories (three) as the Giants have games played at the 104-year-old relic known as "America's Most Beloved Ballpark."
The majors-best Giants are entrusting their crafty 35-year-old veteran with the task of subduing the league's most prolific offense in Tuesday night's series opener in Boston.
San Francisco (57-36) has traveled to Fenway only once since interleague play began in 1997, enduring a three-game sweep June 15-17, 2007, during home run king Barry Bond's final season.
Before moving to the Bay Area, the Giants played five games at Fenway while facing the Red Sox in the 1912 World Series, which Boston won in the ballpark's inaugural season.
Peavy has gone 3-3 with a 4.47 ERA in 14 starts at Fenway -- his seventh-most at a single ballpark. In two seasons with the Red Sox, Peavy owns a 5-10 record with a 4.48 ERA in 30 starts.
This year, the 2007 National League Cy Young Award winner and three-time All-Star is 5-7 with a 5.09 ERA in 18 starts. On the road, Peavy is 1-5 with a 6.64 ERA in eight starts.
David Ortiz is 3-for-10 with an RBI and two strikeouts while Hanley Ramirez has gone 4-for-22 with a double and an RBI against Peavy. Dustin Pedroia is 1-for-7 with a pair of RBI.
The Giants are coming off a surprising three-game sweep at San Diego, where Peavy spent the first eight seasons of his career while becoming the Padres' all-time strikeouts leader.
Peavy was nearly called on as an emergency starter Sunday, a 5-3 defeat, as Johnny Cueto, who started last Tuesday's All-Star Game at Petco Park, dealt with an illness.
"I'm always looking to play," Peavy told MLB.com, after joking that he initially reacted with "straight, utter panic" to manager Bruce Bochy's request. "I got ready."
Peavy wasn't needed, but Cueto gave up four runs. San Francisco surrendered 16 runs -- more than it had in its previous seven games combined -- and hit .204 in the series.
"We've got to reboot and reset," Bochy said. "We had the right guys up there with a couple of guys on base. We just couldn't get it done."
Boston (51-39) is 1 1/2 games behind the first-place Baltimore Orioles in the American League East after winning two of three road games against the Yankees over the weekend. New York won the finale 3-1 Sunday.
"After we got through the month of June, we've been able to turn the page," Red Sox manager John Farrell said. "We're going back home, where we've played particularly well of late. We're set up pretty good right now."
Rick Porcello (11-2, 3.66 ERA) aims to put the Red Sox in line for their fifth straight home win. Boston is 7-2 in July -- all at Fenway -- after stumbling to a 10-16 mark in June.
Porcello is a perfect 8-0 at home this season, but 1-1 with a 6.19 ERA in three career starts against the Giants.
Conor Gillaspie is 10-for-24 (.417) with a homer and six RBI against Porcello. Denard Span is 12-for-32 (.375) with four RBI against him, and is 16-for-53 (.302) lifetime at Fenway.
San Francisco and Boston split a two-game set June 7-8 at AT&T Park. The Red Sox took the opener 5-3 in 10 innings, but lost a 2-1 pitchers' duel the following day.
