First pitch: Thursday, 7:05 p.m. ET
Line: Pittsburgh -125, San Francisco +115, Total: 8

In what could be a preview of a playoff matchup, the San Francisco Giants and Pittsburgh Pirates go head-to-head on Thursday night.

The Giants have struggled with consistency in 2015 and come into this one following wins in five of their last seven games. They needed the victories as they began the month of August going 4-7 with most of those games being played on the road. After a four-game sweep of the Nationals to end last week, San Francisco could not take the Cardinals, losing 2-of-3 and were defeated in the rubber-match Wednesday 4-3 as the bullpen gave up two runs with the lead late in the game. SS Brandon Crawford (.272) is riding a career-high 13-game hitting streak in which he is 16-for-44 (.364) with eight doubles, seven RBIs and four runs. On the other side of the diamond, the Pirates remain five games behind the Cardinals in the NL Central despite some recent solid play as they’ve gone 11-5 in the month of August. They come into this one with victories in six of the last seven games and in that time have outscored opponents 38-24 and were able to get the win in extra innings three times. On Wednesday, they took down the Diamondbacks in the rubber-match of the series by a score of 4-1, knocking out 10 hits in the process. C Francisco Cervelli (.307) has seen his bat heat up recently and is 12-for-34 (.353) with three doubles, a homer, four RBIs and six runs in his last nine games played. The starting pitchers for this important matchup will be RHP Jake Peavy (3-5, 4.18 ERA) for the visitors as he attempts to outduel RHP Charlie Morton (7-4, 4.36 ERA) of the host Pittsburgh group. With Wednesday’s win on the road, the Giants pushed their record away from home to 31-30 (.508), but will have a difficult task ahead with these Pirates who have managed to post a 41-19 (.683) mark at PNC Park. It will also be Pittsburgh that holds the advantage in the recent history between these clubs as they are 11-6 against San Francisco since the start of 2013; going 4-3 in the games at home during that time. The Pirates were able to sweep the first series against this opponent earlier in the year when they were out west and outscored the Giants 16-9 over three contests. Trends show that San Francisco is 74-47 (.612) with an on-base percentage of .310 or worse in its last 20 games over the past two seasons as Pittsburgh is 15-3 (.833) against NL West opponents on the year. OF Nori Aoki (Concussion) will be activated for this game, but the Giants will still be without OFs Hunter Pence (Oblique), Angel Pagan (Knee) and 2B Joe Panik (Back) while SS Jody Mercer (Knee) and 3B Josh Harrison (Thumb) remain on the DL for the host Pirates.

Peavy is not the player he was at a younger age and injuries caught up to him once again this season as he has tallied a mere 10 starts up to this point. After pitching to a solid 3.73 ERA over 32 starts (202.2 IP) last year, he has seen his strikeouts drop to 6.6 K/9 while maintaining his control (2.6 BB/9) in 2015. Despite the season not really going his way, his homers (0.96 HR/9) are at the lowest mark since 2011 and his FIP (fielder independent pitching) of 3.95 suggests that he is getting a little unlucky and should have better numbers as the season progresses. Peavy has a quality start in half (5) of his outings this year, but is coming off of a rough showing against the Nationals in which he allowed five runs on nine hits with two strikeouts (3 walks) over 5.2 frames in a winning effort. He’s been successful over his eight career starts against the Pirates, going 5-2 (6-2 team record) with a 2.52 ERA (1.04 WHIP), but has not faced them since 2009. The only player who has double-digit at-bats against the veteran is 3B Aramis Ramirez and he is 7-for-30 (.233) with two doubles, a homer and two RBIs in the matchup. In limited at-bats, 1B Travis Ishikawa has tagged Peavy for four hits in eight at-bats with a solo homer. The bullpen has gone 14-13 with a 3.27 ERA (1.18 WHIP) and is 32-for-41 (78%) in save opportunities. Santiago Casilla (3.70 ERA, 29 saves) has gone 29-for-34 (85%) in his save chances as he struggles with the long ball (1.09 HR/9).

After impressing the Pirates with a 3.26 ERA over 20 starts in 2013, Morton earned himself a chance at staying in the rotation and followed that season with another solid campaign (3.72 ERA) in 2014. His ERA has continued to rise this year though, and he is striking out just 6.4 batters per nine innings while giving up his most homers (0.91 HR/9) since 2010. Morton is a very successful groundball pitcher with the opposition hitting it on the ground 58.3% of the time, but unfortunately, when the ball gets up he is letting 15.5% of his flyballs go yard. Pittsburgh has won in each of his last four outings and he is coming off a quality start (6.1 IP, 3 R, 4 H, 9 K) against the Mets. He’s had no issues when meeting with the Giants in his career, going 3-4 (4-7 team record) with a 2.84 ERA (1.25 WHIP), but struggled (5 IP, 4 ER, 9 H, 2 K) in his last matchup with them in 2014. Many of the San Francisco players have had success against the righty with C Buster Posey (5-for-15, 2 doubles) leading the charge. The player who has struggled most with double-digit at-bats against Morton is SS Brandon Crawford, but even he is still a decent 3-for-11 with a double. The Pirates have built one of the best bullpens in the league and the relievers have combined to go 24-13 with a 2.62 ERA (1.19 WHIP) and have managed to go 41-for-53 (77%) in saves. Mark Melancon (1.58 ERA, 38 saves) has been dominant thanks to leaving 82.2% of runners on base while forcing groundballs in 59.4% of his oppositions at-bats.