Dodgers offense showing life of late, lineup remains same in SF finale

SAN FRANCISCO -- The Dodgers go for a sweep of the rival Giants on ESPN Sunday Night Baseball, and will do so with the same lineup for a third straight night, going with the same starting eight that have outscored the Giants 13-1 in the first two games.

The Dodgers scored five runs in the first inning of their game in Detroit on July 8 but were held scoreless the rest of that game, a loss, and followed by scoring two or fewer runs in six of their next seven games. But after scoring 16 runs in eight games (plus eight innings), the Dodgers' bats have come alive of late.

Since the start of the series in Pittsburgh the Dodgers have scored five or more runs four times in five games, scoring 26 runs during that span while hitting .289/.358/.439 as a team.

Matt Kemp is 9-for-28 on the road trip, hitting .321/.424/.429 with a double and a triple in eight games. Dee Gordon is hitting .343/.378/.486, 12-for-35 with three doubles, a triple, two walks and three steals.

Adrian Gonzalez has four multi-hit games in his last five, and is 13-for-31 on the road trip, hitting .419/.486/.645 with eight RBI.

Yasiel Puig is 8-for-20 with a walk, a double and four triples this year in five games at AT&T Park. The only player with more triples in San Francisco this season is Brandon Crawford, with six triples in 51 games and 194 plate appearances. Hunter Pence, like Puig, has four triples, but in 234 PA compared to Puig's 21 PA.

Hanley Ramirez has back-to-back multi-hit games and though he has spent more time in the trainers room than any other Dodger, when he has been healthy he has been remarkably productive. If you want to know why the team has been willing to wait out the various injuries of Ramirez rather than place him on the disabled list (aside from the only real option usually being Carlos Triunfel getting called up), it's because of this:

Ramirez has started only 34 of the last 51 games, exactly two-thirds, but he has reached base by hit or walk in all 34 starts, overall hitting .333/.448/.513 with nine doubles, four home runs and 26 RBI during that span.

San Francisco's lineup is mostly the same, too, with the only real difference Pence and Gregor Blanco flipping in the top two spots. Pence bats second on Sunday after leading off the first two games of the series.

Roster move

To make room for Jake Peavy on the active roster, the Giants optioned relief pitcher George Kontos to Triple-A Fresno. He pitched the final two innings on Friday night, allowing one run on two hits with one walk and one strikeout.