Brett Anderson, Dodgers open series with Giants at home

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will turn to Brett Anderson in the opener of a three-game series against the Giants on Monday night at Dodger Stadium, in what will be a reasonably important start for the left-hander.

Anderson has mostly done Anderson things so far, keeping the ball on the ground - his 58.2-percent ground ball rate ranks 21st among the 172 major league pitchers with at least 10 innings this year - though maybe the strikeouts are down, with just eight strikeouts among his 66 batters faced (12.1 percent) in his three starts.

With five innings on Monday Anderson will reach 20 innings for the month, though in April that is hardly out of the norm for him. He has reached 20 innings in April five times in his seven-year career, and his 145 career innings in April makes this his busiest month, and only one of two months over 87⅔ innings.

But what makes Monday's start important for Anderson is that if he gets through it healthy enough, his next start would either be Saturday or Sunday, depending on how the Dodgers maneuver around Brandon McCarthy's elbow. But either one of those weekend starts for Anderson is in May.

Anderson hasn't pitched a major league game in May, or June, since 2011.

In 2012, Anderson was recovering from Tommy John surgery the season before.

In 2013, Anderson suffered a stress fracture in his right foot.

In 2014, Anderson broke his left index finger while batting.

He will look to rebound after allowing four runs on nine hits in just four innings to the Giants last Tuesday in San Francisco. Anderson's mound counterpart on Monday night will be Tim Lincecum, who allowed just one run in six innings last Tuesday and carries with him a 2.00 ERA into Monday's contest at Chavez Ravine.

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network