Arizona Diamondbacks vs San Francisco Giants Prediction: Giants' offense won’t work again but they can win by defense

San Francisco has lost six straight games, including both of the first two games of their road series with Arizona. Will the Giants be able to break the bad streak in the third game of the confrontation in Phoenix? We'll pick a few bets at once.

With two straight wins over the Giants, the Diamondbacks have come within 5 wins of their division rival. Arizona, meanwhile, is now just six wins away from the wild-card zone. That would have been hard to imagine just a few weeks ago. Arizona is in the playoff race!

Trying to build on the team's success on the pitcher's mound in Game 3 of the series with San Francisco will be Merrill Kelly, 7-5, and a 3.46 ERA in 16 starts.

The Giants are having a very difficult stretch. The team has lost 12 of its last 15 games and nearly slipped past the 50% win mark, 40-39. In those situations, having leaders on the team who can take the reins plays a big role. But San Francisco simply doesn't seem to have any such player right now. No one has yet taken the place of the departed Buster Posey.

Alex Cobb will pitch for San Francisco in Game 3 in Phoenix, going 3-3 with a 4.59 ERA in 11 games.

The score in the season series is 2-0 in favor of Arizona.

San Francisco defeated Arizona in 17 out of 19 games last season.

The Giants have big problems on offense. Even those who shoot 25% can be counted on the fingers of one hand. It is far from certain that even against unstable Arizona the San Francisco hitters will be able to prove themselves in the third game of the series. Although the Giants have a chance to break their losing streak. After all, the team is not so bad on defense.

Prediction: San Francisco will win in a low-scoring match.

Betting options:

• W2+TU (10.5) for 2.30;
• TU (8.5) for 1.845;
• TU (7) for 2.60.

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