By Jeremy Harness

photo courtesy sfgate.com: The San Francisco Giants prepare to play indoors at Tampa’s Tropicana Field on Friday night against the Rays

Unlike the Warriors, who have appeared to have taken a significant step back in their quest to win their second straight NBA championship, the Giants have gotten their game back on track after a brief slide.

After taking two of three from the hated Los Angeles Dodgers, the Giants swept right through the Milwaukee Brewers in a three-game series at AT&T Park, punctuating things with a convincing 10-1 win.

The Giants will now travel across the country to take on the Tampa Bay Rays, a team that holds a 31-33 record and is currently in fifth place in the American League East, for a three-game weekend series.

For the Friday opener, the Giants will send Jeff Samardzija to the hill against the Rays’ Chris Archer.

Jake Peavy, who has had his share of struggles this year on the mound, appears to be getting it together after throwing six scoreless innings in his previous start against Dodgers, will start Saturday against Tampa’s Matt Moore (3-4, 5.05 ERA), who himself tossed seven shutout innings in his previous outing.

The Giants will close the series out on Sunday by starting righty Albert Suarez (2-1, 3.33 ERA) opposite Rays right-hander Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 3.79 ERA), who gave up five runs over only 5 2/3 innings in his last outing.

NOTES: The Giants are once again getting re-acquainted with an old pal.

The team signed right-handed reliever Jean Machi to a minor-league deal on Thursday. He went 11-2 with a 3.47 ERA over four years with the Giants from 2012 to 2015, but he really struggled since leaving the Giants.

The 34-year-old spent the first half of this season in the Cubs organization, but while playing for their affiliate in Iowa, he was released earlier this month.

If that wasn’t enough, a bout with alcohol made it much worse. Shortly after his release, a drunken Machi was seen urinating on the bumper of a car owner by an employee of a nearby restaurant. When the employee asked him to stop, the pitcher then challenged him to a fight.

Now he has another chance, to recapture the form that made him such an effective weapon out of the bullpen.