Pirates-Giants preview

SAN FRANCISCO -- Jeff Samardzija hopes to relive his glory days against the Pittsburgh Pirates when he faces his old National League Central rival for the San Francisco Giants on Tuesday night.

The former Chicago Cubs ace was once known as a "Pirate killer," having won his first four career decisions against them in dominating fashion.

Samardzija allowed only five runs in his first 41 1/3 innings (1.09 ERA) against the Pirates.

But the right-hander's most recent 45 2/3 innings against Pittsburgh have been a different story, one he'd like to rewrite. The Pirates have scorched him for 22 runs over that stretch (4.34 ERA), evening their career record against Samardzija at 4-4.

These days, the 31-year-old is seen as a guy who hasn't beaten the Pirates since 2013.

That's the same year Tuesday's starter for the Pirates, right-hander Jameson Taillon, was pitching for Team Canada in the World Baseball Classic at age 21 with no major league experience.

Now two years removed from Tommy John surgery, the rookie has been unleashed by the Pirates, and the results have been impressive.

After two months in which he was allowed to pitch into the seventh inning just once, Taillon has gone over 100 pitches for the first two times in his career in 3-2 and 4-0 wins over the Cincinnati Reds and San Diego Padres in his last two starts.

The former No. 2 overall pick of the 2010 draft has limited the Reds and Padres to a total of one run and nine hits over 14 innings.

"Incrementally, he's just working to get a little bit better," Pirates manager Clint Hurdle assessed after the San Diego game last week. "He's a good student of the game."

Taillon has never faced the Giants.

The club he'll see Tuesday has been hitting well the last two days, but with no win to show for it.

After the Giants blew a 7-1 lead in an 8-7 loss to the Baltimore Orioles on Sunday, they pounded out 12 hits on Monday night, only to lose 8-5 to old pal Ryan Vogelsong and the Pirates.

The Giants have had backup Trevor Brown behind the plate in both those games, with Buster Posey nursing a sore lower back.

Giants manager Bruce Bochy hopes to have his All-Star back for Tuesday's contest.

"It's better," Bochy reported of Posey's back before Monday's game. "But we think we're better off giving him another day and getting this cleared up so it doesn't linger."

Left fielder Angel Pagan has been the Giants' offensive leader of late. He extended his hitting streak to 13 games in Monday's loss, using a double to keep the streak alive for the third consecutive day.

He went 2-for-5 in the game, raising his average at home this season to .327 (52-for-159).

The Pirates got left fielder Starling Marte back from a back ailment similar to Posey's on Monday night and he contributed both offensively and defensively to the win.

Marte had a single and an RBI double in Pittsburgh's 12-hit attack, and denied the Giants a second-inning run with a strike to home plate that nailed a sliding Brown by an eyelash.

The outfield assist was a National League-leading 14th for Marte.