SAN FRANCISCO — The visiting team’s cleanup hitter on Saturday night, Paul Goldschmidt, is a frontrunner for the National League MVP award. The home team’s cleanup hitter was designated for assignment last month and recently hit .207 during a Triple-A assignment.
What’s up with that?
“Where we’re at with the lineup, he’s a left-handed batter who has experience hitting there,” manager Bruce Bochy said of Pablo Sandoval. “I didn’t want to move (Jarrett) Parker and I have (Brandon) Crawford hitting third. I wanted to keep (Hunter) Pence in the five-hole against a righty.”
That’s one indictment of the current roster.