First pitch: Sunday, 8:00 p.m. ET
Line: N/A, Total: N/A

Jake Peavy and the Giants will be looking to earn a road victory over the Cardinals in this week’s Sunday Night Baseball matchup.

This meeting between the Giants and the Cardinals will be the final one of a three-game series between the teams. Both clubs have championship aspirations this season, but the Cardinals have not been playing the way they had hoped to start the year. They’ll be hoping that RHP Carlos Martinez (5-5, 3.69 ERA, 50 K) can earn them a victory on the national stage on Sunday. He will, however, be going up against RHP Jake Peavy (2-5, 6.34 ERA, 43 K) and the Giants’ starter has been in a nice groove lately. He has won each of his past two starts and has allowed just one earned run total in those games. It’s worth nothing that two of Martinez’s past three starts have gone OVER the total and just one of Peavy’s past three starts has gone OVER. Martinez is also a miserable 1-1 with a 5.40 ERA versus the Giants over the past three seasons, but Peavy has not faced the Cardinals in that time. OFs Angel Pagan (Hamstring) and Hunter Pence (Hamstring) are both going to miss this game, as they were both placed on the 15-day DL a little under a week ago.

Jake Peavy started the season off with a string of awful performances and it looked as though he was heading towards a miserable year. Peavy has, however, bounced back for the Giants. In three of his past four starts, Peavy has allowed one or less earned runs and he allowed just one hit in a seven-inning shutout against the Braves on May 31. San Francisco will be hoping that the good Peavy shows up on Sunday, as it will not be easy for the Giants to win if Peavy is pitching as poorly as he did in his first couple of starts. Offensively, one guy that could be an x-factor in this one is OF Gregor Blanco. Blanco is not really known as much of a hitter, but he is 4-for-4 against Martinez in his career. One of those hits was a double and another was a triple, so he could provide a spark for San Francisco in this one. The Giants will also need Buster Posey to make an impact in this one. He is just 1-for-4 against Martinez in his career, but he could be a bit better after seeing him a few times now.

Carlos Martinez has been very inconsistent this season, but he is coming into this game after his best performance of the year. Martinez faced the Brewers on May 30 and pitched eight innings of shutout baseball in a 6-0 victory for the Cardinals. Martinez struck out eight batters in that game and walked just one. His control has been an issue this season, so it was big that he avoided walking too many batters in that one. Martinez had previously walked three batters in each of his previous four games and will need to make sure he keeps runners off the bases on Sunday. Offensively, one guy that could have a major impact in this game is OF Matt Holliday. Holliday has really gotten to Peavy in his career, going 8-for-28 with a homer and five RBI against him in his career. He has also drawn 10 walks and it’d be big if he can produce on Sunday.