NEW YORK -- Bruce Bochy said he tried to stay out of the way against the Dodgers on Saturday and Sunday because his team was finally finding the right gear. Bochy isn’t messing with that success for the National League Wild Card Game. Wednesday’s lineup is a familiar one:
Denard Span CF
Brandon Belt 1B
Buster Posey C
Hunter Pence RF
Brandon Crawford SS
Angel Pagan LF
Joe Panik 2B
Conor Gillaspie 3B
Madison Bumgarner LHP
[PAVLOVIC: Ten storylines to watch in Giants-Mets Wild Card Game]
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Span and Belt are both 0-for-6 against Syndergaard, although Belt — the team leader in walks — has drawn three free passes. Pence took Syndergaard deep in May, lining a 98 mph fastball over the wall in right. Posey (3-for-6), Panik (2-for-6) and Crawford (2-for-8) are the only Giants with multiple hits off Syndergaard.
The Mets went with an unusual amount of left-handers against Bumgarner, who faced just 163 of them this season and held lefties to a .178 average and .513 OPS:
Jose Reyes 3B
Asdrubal Cabrera SS
Yoenis Cespedes LF
Curtis Granderson CF
T.J. Rivera 2B
Jay Bruce RF
Rene Rivera C
James Loney 1B
Noah Syndergaard RHP
Granderson, Bruce, Loney and Syndergaard bat from the left side. Bruce was one of four left-handers who took Bumgarner deep this season and Rene Rivera homered off him two seasons ago. Reyes (3-for-9), Cabrera (2-for-4) and Cespedes (3-for-10) will make up the biggest challenge, and Bumgarner will see them in the bottom of the first. T.J. Rivera could be a sneaky problem; the rookie batted .365 in September.
San Francisco Giants
First pitch at Citi Field is at 5:09pm PT.