The San Francisco Giants were fading in the National League wild-card standings 10 days ago, but after winning seven of their last eight games, they are back in the postseason hunt.
They continue that chase when they open a three-game series at the Colorado Rockies on Monday. San Francisco is slated to send rookie Kai-Wei Teng (1-3, 8.78 ERA) against fellow right-hander Chase Dollander (2-11, 6.55) in the matinee matchup.
The Giants are coming off a 13-2 win over Baltimore on Sunday. They took two of three from the Orioles after sweeping the Chicago Cubs and will try to continue their surge in Colorado. San Francisco has won five of the first seven games against the Rockies this season.
Rookie left-hander Carson Wisenhunt was originally slated to pitch for the Giants on Monday, but he was experiencing back discomfort and was placed on the injured list with a back strain. Teng was recalled from Triple-A Sacramento on Sunday.
Teng, who has never faced Colorado in his brief career, spent the first four months of the season with the River Cats and made his first start on Aug. 2 at the New York Mets and allowed five runs in 3 1/3 innings in taking a 12-6 road loss.
He made two more starts and a relief appearance before being optioned back to Triple-A. His last outing for the Giants was Aug. 19 when he gave up three runs (two earned) in 3 1/3 innings of a 5-1 road loss to San Diego.
Teng had blanked the visiting Washington Nationals on three hits over five innings with four strikeouts to earn a 5-0 win on Aug. 8. That gave him more opportunities to show what he can do for San Francisco.
“We want to continue to watch him. He had a really good year in Triple-A,” manager Bob Melvin said recently. “I don’t think you evaluate on just a couple of outings.”
The Rockies beat Chicago 6-5 on Sunday to avoid a sweep of their three-game series. Colorado, which has 98 losses, finished 11-18 in August and is 17-24 in the second half of the season. The Rockies are on pace to avoid setting the modern era record of 121 losses set by the 2024 Chicago White Sox.
Dollander will try to follow up a strong outing by Colorado’s starter on Sunday, Tanner Gordon (two runs, five hits, one walk, nine strikeouts in six innings. Dollander has not earned a win since April 30, a drought that has spanned the last 14 starts. He spent a month in Triple-A after a short outing against the White Sox on July 6.
In four starts since being recalled, he is 0-2 with a 6.05 ERA and took a hard-luck loss at Houston on Wednesday when he allowed just one run on three hits over six innings. He also matched a season-high seven strikeouts, and his fastball topped out at nearly 100 mph.
Dollander, who will make his first career start against San Francisco, said he has corrected his posture to improve his delivery.
“I was getting too hunched over, causing me to kind of fly out and stuff like that, so kind of having the thought of being a little more linear to the plate,” Dollander said after his outing. “It’s obviously still a work in progress, but I’m happy that we’re getting closer to where we need to be.”