By Jeremy Harness

AP photo: San Francisco Giant pitcher Matt Cain who starts on Friday against the Baltimore Orioles seen here in Aug 6th photo at AT&T Park

SAN FRANCISCO–Now that the Giants have regained the top spot in the National League West by themselves, they will try to build on the momentum that they have recently generated.

They had not gotten much of anything going since the All-Star break, a prolonged lull that started with a sweep at the hands of the lowly San Diego Padres to begin the season’s second half, but all of that may have changed after taking a three-game series from the Miami Marlins this week.

The Los Angeles Dodgers had completely closed the gap in the division, tying the Giants for the NL West lead, but by virtue of their series win, the Giants have recaptured the lead by a single game.

The Giants will now head home for a three-game series against the Baltimore Orioles, a series that kicks off Friday night at AT&T Park. Matt Cain (4-6, 5.16 ERA), who has been up and down for much of this season, will take the ball Friday night against Baltimore starter Dylan Bundy (5-3, 3.05 ERA).

However, Cain enters Friday’s series opener on a high note, as he is coming off an impressive win over the Nationals, during which threw five shutout innings in a 7-1 win over Washington on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Bundy is also coming off a nice performance. The right-hander gave up only two runs while striking out nine hitters in picking up a win over the Chicago White Sox on Sunday.

The Giants will have the advantage in momentum, however, something they have not been able to claim in quite some time. The Orioles were victorious in Oakland Thursday afternoon, but in doing so, they avoided being swept in four games by the lowly A’s.

In addition, the Orioles held a sizable lead into the eighth inning, but the A’s stormed back with four runs in the eighth and had the bases loaded in the ninth with a great chance to win the game, but Oakland simply ran out of outs.

Baltimore once held the lead in the American League East, but the Toronto Blue Jays have since overtaken them by a half-game at press time.