Yankees look to bounce back at Giants

Madison Bumgarner goes head-to-head with one of the teams most strongly linked to him in winter trade rumors when the San Francisco Giants open a three-game interleague series against the New York Yankees on Friday night.

Facing the Yankees for the first time in San Francisco since 2007 and first time anywhere in three years, the Giants will be looking for a third straight win over American League East competition, having completed a two-game sweep at Toronto on Wednesday.

While the Giants got Thursday off after the long flight home, the Yankees were letting their six-game winning streak slip away, blowing a 4-0 lead in an 11-5 road loss to the Los Angeles Angels.

New York had won the first three games of the series.

Bumgarner (1-3, 3.66) will be making just his second career start against the Yankees. He didn't get a decision when he pitched at Yankee Stadium in July of 2016, allowing seven hits and two runs in seven innings in a 3-2 loss.

No one currently on the New York roster has ever batted against Bumgarner as a member of the Yankees, a group that includes Northern California native Aaron Judge, who is out of action with a strained oblique.

Also sidelined with a biceps strain is fellow outfielder Giancarlo Stanton, a former National Leaguer who has dominated Bumgarner like few others, going 10-for-19 (.526) with five doubles and two home runs.

Instead, the Giants ace figures to see Cameron Maybin, who failed to make the San Francisco roster in spring training but has now landed with the Yankees after a stint in the minors with the Cleveland Indians.

"He'll be part of the mix," Yankees manager Aaron Boone told reporters shortly after the Maybin acquisition Thursday. "I would anticipate he'll play (Friday) and Saturday when we get two lefties with the Giants. We'll kind of roll with it day to day. He's certainly going to play."

Bumgarner will be making his 27th career interleague start. He's 10-9 with a 3.51 ERA.

He'll be attempting to add the Yankees to a list of 21 major league teams he's beaten.

Interestingly, the pitcher the Yankees acquired in the offseason to fill a void into which some had prematurely slotted Bumgarner -- left-hander James Paxton (2-2, 3.10) -- will get the start for New York.

The former member of the Seattle Mariners has never faced the Giants, but does have a brief history with five current members of the San Francisco roster, including Pablo Sandoval, who went 0-for-3 with three groundouts as a member of the Boston Red Sox in 2015.

The switch-hitting Sandoval hasn't batted much against left-handers in his career, but that could be about to change. He homered against right-handers in each of the Giants' two wins in Toronto, but also improved his average against lefties to .286 with a hit against Thomas Pannone on Tuesday.

Sandoval served as a designated hitter in the Toronto series, allowing Giants manager Bruce Bochy to keep both his regular corner infielders, Evan Longoria and Brandon Belt, in the lineup.

The veteran manager said starts for Sandoval could be few and far between under normal (non-DH) circumstances, but his .353 average as a pinch hitter this season gives the team options.

"It's nice to have a batter sitting on the bench and when you need a big hit, he's ready to go," Bochy explained to reporters in Toronto. "A lot of those at-bats come with men on base and later in the game, and I've got a pretty nice weapon there."

The Yankees lead the all-time interleague series against the Giants 7-5.

--Field Level Media