Giants at Dodgers
Dodger Stadium is one of the most storied facilities in the game, but it’s proving to be an absolute house of horrors for visiting teams this season. Los Angeles owns a ridiculous 44-13 home record heading into Saturday’s contest against the visiting San Francisco Giants, who are 32 1/2 games behind the first-place Dodgers following Friday’s 6-4 loss.
Alex Wood improved to 12-1 and Corey Seager blasted two homers on Friday as the Dodgers won their sixth straight contest and moved 13 games ahead of second-place Arizona in the National League West. Leadoff hitter Chris Taylor contributed a run-scoring double and is batting .481 with two homers and 10 RBIs in 13 games since the All-Star break. The Giants have dropped five of their last eight and could be without Brandon Belt for the next few days as the first baseman was scratched from Friday’s lineup with a sore right wrist. Jae-Gyun Hwang, who was brought up from Triple-A Sacramento before the game, went 1-for-4 from the sixth spot in the batting order and could receive regular playing time as Eduardo Nunez was traded to Boston earlier in the week.
TV: 4:05 p.m. ET, FS1, NBCSN Bay Area (San Francisco), SportsNet LA (Los Angeles)
PITCHING MATCHUP: Giants LH Ty Blach (6-6, 4.50 ERA) vs. Dodgers LH Rich Hill (7-4, 3.48)
Blach has been one of the few bright spots for the Giants this season, allowing just nine home runs over 106 innings in 23 games (16 starts). The native of Colorado worked seven frames for his second straight start on Sunday against San Diego and registered a career-high seven strikeouts but took the loss after allowing five runs. Blach has faced the Dodgers four times (three starts) in his career, posting a 2-1 record with a 1.17 ERA over 23 innings.
Hill recorded his third straight victory last Saturday against Atlanta despite battling a respiratory ailment, as he allowed two runs with eight strikeouts over 6 1/3 innings. The 37-year-old has gone 4-3 with a 3.40 ERA in eight starts at Dodger Stadium this season, recording 48 strikeouts against 22 walks in 42 1/3 frames. Buster Posey is 5-for-10 against Hill, who is 3-2 with a 2.62 ERA in nine career starts versus San Francisco.
WALK-OFFS
1. The Giants are 17-28 against the NL West this season after going 45-31 in 2016.
2. The Dodgers placed RHP Grant Dayton on the 10-day disabled list with neck stiffness and recalled C Kyle Farmer from Triple-A Oklahoma City.
3. San Francisco placed RHP Chris Stratton on the disabled list with a right calf injury.