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After four days without meaningful baseball, the Dodgers are back in action on Friday night with a three-game weekend series in Washington D.C. against the Nationals. Here is a look at the pitching matchups and television schedule for the opening series of the Dodgers' six-game road trip.
Friday, 4:05 p.m. (Prime Ticket)
Ricky Nolasco makes his third start as a Dodger. He faced the Nationals twice this season with the Marlins, both in April. Nolasco allowed six runs in 12 innings in those two starts, both losses which featured Bryce Harper collecting six hits, including two home runs and a double. Stephen Strasburg is coming off the worst start of his career, with seven runs allowed in two innings on Friday to the Marlins. That moved Strasburg to 5-7 on the season despite his 2.99 ERA. Strasburg and Nolasco are tied for the second worst run support in the National League at 3.0 runs per game.
Saturday, 4:05 p.m. (Prime Ticket)
Zack Greinke carries a 16-inning scoreless streak with him into the middle game of the series, starting on six days rest after his first complete game shutout as a Dodger. Greinke is 5-0 with a 2.50 ERA in his last five starts. Gio Gonzalez has been quietly productive this season, at 7-3 with a 3.03 ERA in 19 starts, with 114 strikeouts and 47 walks in 118⅔ innings. The southpaw has pitched eight consecutive quality starts and is 4-0 with a 2.00 ERA in his last four starts.
Sunday, 10:35 a.m. (KCAL, TBS)
After the All-Star break in the last two seasons, Clayton Kershaw is 20-5 in 29 starts with a 1.71 ERA, 211 strikeouts and 50 walks in 209⅔ innings. His current streak of 15 consecutive starts of six innings or more is the second-longest of his career, trailing only a 20-start streak in Kershaw's Cy Young Award season of 2011. Jordan Zimmermann is 9-0 with a 1.75 ERA in 11 home starts this season, and batters have hit just .204/.237/.288 against him in Washington. The Nats have won all 11 of his home starts and have won 14 straight dating back to last season. The right-hander is 2-0 with three runs allowed in two starts against the Dodgers in 2012-2013.