The San Francisco Giants have turned in some thrilling victories during their 10-game homestand, a residency that continues on Thursday night with the first of four straight meetings against the Atlanta Braves.
The Giants began the stay at AT&T Park with a three-game sweep of the rival Los Angeles Dodgers. They won each game by just one run and plated the go- ahead runs in the ninth and 10th innings, respectively, in the first two contests.
San Francisco then dropped back-to-back 6-2 games to the Philadelphia Phillies before avoiding the sweep with Wednesday's 4-3 victory in 10 innings.
Following a blown save by Sergio Romo, who allowed two runs in the ninth inning, Andres Torres drove in Buster Posey with the winning run on a two-out single in the bottom of the 10th off Phillies reliever Antonio Bastardo.
"I want to be aggressive," Torres said of the at-bat. "I was sitting on one of his sliders, but he threw me a fastball."
Marco Scutaro went 3-for-5 with an RBI single in the win, extending his hitting streak to eight straight games. He is 15-for-31 (.484) at the plate during that tear.
Hunter Pence added a solo homer for the Giants, who have won seven of their last nine.
Ryan Vogelsong hopes to turn his season around on Thursday night when he takes the hill for the Giants.
Vogelsong has struggled for most of the year, especially his last two starts. The right-hander yielded six runs -- five earned -- and three home runs over five innings of a loss at San Diego on April 28 before not factoring into a 10-9 extra-inning win on Saturday versus the Los Angeles Dodgers. Vogelsong allowed seven runs on nine hits over a season-low 4 2/3 innings, the most runs he has allowed in a start this year.
"It's a battle," Vogelsong said on San Francisco's website. "Every pitch is like I'm battling myself."
The 35-year-old is 1-2 with a 7.20 earned run average in six starts this season and faced the Braves twice last season. He went 1-0 with a 2.92 ERA, though he did allow four homers in 12 1/3 innings. Two of those were hit by Atlanta first baseman Freddie Freeman.
The Braves used the longball to secure their rubber match of a three-game set with the Cincinnati Reds on Wednesday, getting a pair of solo homers from Dan Uggla and a grand slam off the bat of Juan Francisco curing a five-run eighth inning.
Uggla has seven homers on the year and has hit safely in six straight games. He is 9-for-24 over that time, lifting his season average to just .209.
Mike Minor struck out seven and surrendered a run on four hits and three walks over seven innings to pick up the win, Atlanta's third in four games.
"Mike gave us a great opportunity to win the game," Braves manager Fredi Gonzalez said.
After having his last scheduled start skipped due to a rainout, Julio Teheran is set to take the mound for the Braves for the first time since April 29.
The young righty gave up 13 runs over his first three starts of the season, but has since been touched for only three in his last two outings. Teheran won at Colorado on April 23 with a season-high seven innings of one-run ball and then did not factor into a decision versus Washington last time out. He lasted just 5 1/3 innings after yielding a season-high 10 buts, but kept the damage to just two runs in his club's eventual 3-2 win.
The 22-year-old is 1-0 with a 5.08 ERA on the season and has never before faced the Giants.
The Braves and Giants split a four-game series in San Francisco last season.
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