Chad Gaudin wasn't expected to be a contributor to the San Francisco Giants' rotation this season, but the veteran has been up to the task so far while stepping in as an injury replacement.
Gaudin has a chance to pitch the Giants to back-to-back series wins in Atlanta for the first time in 23 years in the second contest of a three-game series versus the Braves.
Gaudin has turned in a pair of quality outings since taking the place of the injured Ryan Vogelsong in the rotation. The 30-year-old righty has won both starts, going six innings in road wins over St. Louis and Arizona while yielding four runs and nine hits with 12 strikeouts in the outings.
Making his first starts since the 2009 season, Gaudin is 2-1 with a 2.32 earned run average in 20 total appearances this season. He faced the Braves twice in relief during a mid-May series and gave up two hits over three scoreless innings.
In 13 career meetings with Atlanta, including one start, Gaudin is 0-1 with a 7.78 ERA.
The Giants have won just two series in Atlanta since 1994, taking three of four in 2008 and two of three at Turner Field last season. However, they won Friday's opener 6-0 and can secure two straight series victories in Atlanta for the first time since April 11-12 and June 8-10, 1990.
Madison Bumgarner took a no-hitter into the sixth inning and struck out 10 batters to key Friday's win. He was flawless until walking B.J. Upton with two outs in the fifth inning and didn't yield his first hit until Chris Johnson began the sixth with a single to right.
Bumgarner ended up allowing just one more hit over his seven-inning outing to get the win. He logged 21 strikeouts in his two starts versus Atlanta this season.
"He was real tough. He's always tough," Johnson said of Bumgarner. "He throws a lot of pitches for strikes, a lot of different pitches for strikes. He keeps you guessing. He pounds the zone. He was on."
Buster Posey had a career-high three doubles, drove in a run and scored twice for the Giants, who posted their second straight shutout after downing Pittsburgh 10-0 on Thursday. Gregor Blanco led off the game with a homer and drove in another run with a single in the second inning.
"It's huge and we know that," Blanco said of the early runs. "That shows that we're ready from the leadoff spot. We got momentum and we just kept going."
The Braves, losers of four in a row, had just three hits. Jason Heyward went 0-for-4 and had his 10-game hitting streak halted.
Kris Medlen gave up nine hits and four runs over six innings and fell to 0-4 lifetime against the Giants.
It's been the opposite for tonight's starter, Mike Minor, who has never lost when facing the Giants. In three meetings, he is 2-0 with a 1.93 ERA.
The Braves have been on quite a roll when Minor starts and look to extend a seven-game winning streak with the lefty on the hill. Minor is 5-0 over those seven starts with a 1.76 ERA. He hasn't lost since April 28, going 8-2 through 13 starts this year with a 2.44 ERA.
The 25-year-old picked up a road win over the Los Angeles Dodgers on Sunday, logging six solid innings. He got into a bases-loaded jam in the first with no outs, but yielded just one run before keeping the Dodgers off the scoreboard for the rest of the outing.
The Giants took three of four at home over the Braves from May 9-12 and have won eight of the last 12 meetings overall.
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