SAN DIEGO – The Giants have tried everything to turn around their horrible road record. Now they’ll try a truly novel approach: playing a road game at AT&T Park.

The Giants and Cincinnati Reds will make up their July 4 rainout at Great American Ball Park on July 23, when the clubs play a traditional doubleheader in San Francisco.

The first game will start at 4:05 p.m. and Game 2 will begin a half-hour after the final out. The Reds will be the home team and wear their home uniforms in the first game, leaving the Giants -- as the visiting team at AT&T Park -- in their road gray jerseys for Game 1. The team's will switch jerseys for the regularly-scheduled night game, in which the Giants will be the home team.

[REWIND: Rainout provides healing water for homeward bound Giants]

None of the options for making up the rainout were palatable. A neutral-site game at Coors Field was kicked around for Aug. 29, when the Giants were finishing a series just as the Reds were arriving. That was the only common off day between the clubs. But it also would’ve meant both teams having to play 34 consecutive games without a day off, which requires union approval.

They could’ve rescheduled for after the season, if it impacted the playoff races. But Commissioner Bud Selig greatly prefers that teams play all 162 games, and with an extra wild card game as part of the playoff format, there isn’t much margin for more error in the event of weather.

The wrinkle for the Giants is that they’ll need six starting pitchers in the first five days back after the All-Star break. So the reschedule date likely is good news for Mike Kickham, who would be the most likely candidate to return from Triple-A Fresno and make a spot start.



[REWIND: Kickham optioned after sparing bullpen in loss]

This isn’t the first time the Giants have played host to a rescheduled road game. In 2004, they rained out against the Montral Expos in San Juan and ended up playing a doubleheader later in the season at AT&T Park. The Expos batted as the visitor in both games. Then again, the Expos were owned by Major League Baseball at the time and pretty much had to do as they were told.