SAN FRANCISCO — DJ LeMahieu is on the verge of winning the National League batting title, and he might get an extra boost from Rockies manager Walt Weiss.

When Rockies first baseman Justin Morneau won the title in 2014, he sat out the penultimate game of the season and had just one pinch-hit at-bat in the final game. He finished with a .319 batting average, beating out Pittsburgh’s Josh Harrison, who hit .315.

Asked what his game plan will be for LeMahieu, Weiss answered: “We’ll play it by ear. I’ve taken a lot of heat for something like this, with Morneau, and I’ll fall on the sword, for sure, for DJ.

“When it comes down to sitting out an at-bat or two, whatever it looks like, I’m willing to do that to get him the batting title.”

Weiss explained his philosophy this way: “Winning a batting title doesn’t take one day, the last game of the season, it takes six months. I don’t know how it’s all going to play out. I’d love to see DJ win that batting title.”

LeMahieu entered Tuesday night’s game against the Giants batting .350, just ahead of Washington’s Daniel Murphy, who’s batting .347. While Murphy hasn’t played since Sept. 20 because of a strained buttocks), LeMahieu has continued to play every day. His 38-game on-base streak ended Friday.

LeMahieu wants to be the batting king, but he doesn’t like the idea of concentrating on an individual award.

“I don’t really enjoy that,” he said. “It’s not how I got here, it’s not how I played all year. And now that we are officially out of (the playoffs), it makes it harder. It’s more difficult to concentrate on winning. We don’t have that urgency we had a couple of weeks ago.”

Weiss understands that mind-set, but he doesn’t see LeMahieu falling off in the final six games of the season.

“It’s always tougher to play under those conditions,” Weiss said. “But I don’t worry about DJ. He’s as motivated as anybody I’ve managed on a day-to-day basis.”

Footnotes. The Giants, still chasing a wild-card berth, announced that right-hander Johnny Cueto will start Thursday night’s game against the Rockies. Cueto, 17-5 with a 2.79 ERA, missed his start Sunday at San Diego because of a Grade 1 strain of his left groin Sept. 20 at Dodger Stadium. … The Rockies’ road woes have returned with a vengeance. Since July 31, they were 5-18 way from Coors Field, entering Tuesday’s game.

Looking Ahead…

Rockies RHP Tyler Chatwood (11-9, 4.08 ERA) at Giants RHP Jeff Samardzija (12-10, 3.83), 8:15 p.m. Wednesday; ROOT, 850 AM

Samardzija, making $9 million this season and then $17 million annually from 2017-20, is picking a fine time to peak. With the Giants’ playoff aspirations still alive, the veteran right-hander is delivering. In a win over the Padres on Thursday, he struck out nine, walked none and surrendered only four hits over seven scoreless innings. He has pitched three quality starts in his last four outings. Colorado third baseman Nolan Arenado has hit Samardzija relatively hard, going 6-for-16 (.375) with a double and a triple. He’ll enter the game 7-1 with a 1.88 ERA in 12 road starts. Chatwood has fared well at AT&T Park, going 2-1 with a 2.77 ERA in five career starts.

Thursday: Rockies RHP Jon Gray (10-9, 4.54 ERA) at Giants RHP Johnny Cueto, RHP, (17-5, 2.79) , 8:15 p.m., ROOT

Friday: Brewers RHP Brent Suter (2-1, 2.16) at Rockies RHP Chad Bettis (13-8, 4.92), 6:10 p.m., ROOT

Saturday: Brewers RHP Wily Peralta (7-11, 5.10) at Rockies LHP Tyler Anderson (5-6, 3.54), 6:10 p.m., ROOT