After losing two straight games and four of their last five, the Dodgers try to get back on track against the Padres in what has been a much friendlier visitor spot in recent years at Petco Park in San Diego.
The Dodgers have beaten the Padres six straight times in San Diego, dating back to 2015, and have won four straight series at Petco Park. Since the start of 2011 the Dodgers are 13-1-2 in series in San Diego, going 33-17 in games during that span.
The hospitality reached its peak in April when the Dodgers won the first three games of the season, outscoring the Padres 25-0 in the process.
The Dodgers have never shut out the Padres four straight times on the road. In fact, the only opponent the Dodgers have shut out for four straight road games, dating back to 1913, is the Cardinals, from Sept. 18, 1965 to June 2, 1966. The starting pitchers in those games for the Dodgers in St. Louis were Sandy Koufax (complete game), Claude Osteen (eight innings), Koufax again (complete game) and a rookie named Don Sutton (6⅔ innings).
Ron Perranoski was the only Dodgers reliever used in the two non-Koufax starts, earning a pair of saves.
Scott Kazmir started the middle game of the opening series, and retired 18 of his 19 batters faced in six scoreless innings on April 5, allowing only a first-inning single.
Kazmir is coming off an 8⅔-inning start last Saturday against St. Louis, throwing 120 pitches for the first time in nearly 10 years. The reason it wasn't a complete game win for Kazmir was a two-out home run by Jeremy Hazelbaker in the ninth inning, the 10th home run allowed by Kazmir in eight starts in 2016, tied for fifth-most in the majors.
The Padres have hit 36 home runs on the season, tied for 27th in baseball (note: the Dodgers aren't much better with 39 home runs, but they are tied for 19th, with several teams bunched within a few homers of each other). San Diego has hit 15 of those home runs in 22 games at Petco Park, where the Friars are hitting .215/.269/.326 and averaging 2.68 runs per game.
Game info
Time: 7:40 p.m. PT
TV: SportsNet LA