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The Dodgers try to turn things around against the Giants on Friday night at AT&T Park in San Francisco, and send Zack Greinke to do the job in the series opener against a red-hot Tim Lincecum.
The Giants have won all three series against the Dodgers this season, winning the first two games of each series and losing the third, winning seven of 10 games overall. But it goes back even longer than this year. The Dodgers also dropped their last two series to the Giants in 2013 and are 5-12 against San Francisco in their last five series.
Both teams began road trips after the All-Star break. The Dodgers are 2-4 on their journey, with three games left this weekend, while the Giants went 5-2 on their road trip, giving them a 1½-game division lead heading into the weekend series.
Enter Greinke, who has beaten the Giants in both of his starts against them this season and since joining the Dodgers is 2-0 with a 2.36 ERA in three starts against San Francisco, with 21 strikeouts and five walks in 19 innings.
Friday will be Greinke's first start in San Francisco as a Dodger. He only has one career start at AT&T Park, allowing four runs in 5⅓ innings in 2012 when he was with the Brewers.
Greinke has been great against the National League West since the start of 2013, at 13-1 with a 2.14 ERA in 21 starts, with 129 strikeouts and 37 walks in 134⅔ innings.
Lincecum has been pretty great in July, at 3-1 with a 1.24 ERA in five games, including four starts, with 25 strikeouts and 11 walks in 29 innings. He even has a save, getting the final two outs on Tuesday on what was his scheduled throw day.
Lincecum's July doesn't even include his no-hitter against the Padres in what was his final start of June. So in his last 38 innings, the right-hander has allowed four runs.
He faced the Dodgers once this season, allowing a run in five innings with five strikeouts and no walks in San Francisco on April 15, a game won by the Giants in 12 innings. Lincecum is 4-1 with a 2.15 ERA in 11 career home starts against the Dodgers, and has allowed more than two runs just twice, allowing three runs both times. The Giants have won nine of the 11 games, with the only losses a pair of Clayton Kershaw starts in 2011.
Game info
Time: 7:15 p.m. PT
TV: SportsNet LA