Carlos Frias goes for second straight win over Cardinals

LOS ANGELES -- The Dodgers will battle the Cardinals for a second straight weekend, this time at Dodger Stadium for four games. Thursday night's opener features a rematch of the one game that went the Dodgers' way last weekend in St. Louis.

Carlos Frias had a wonderful bounce-back start after allowing 10 runs to the Padres on May 24, pitching seven strong innings to set a new career high. He allowed only one unearned run and struck out three, while getting 10 ground ball outs, including three double plays.

Among the 152 major league pitchers to have pitched at least 30 innings in 2015, Frias ranks seventh with a 56.7-percent ground ball rate.

The Dodgers hung the first loss of the season on Michael Wacha last Saturday, thanks to four runs in the sixth inning. But they were also no-hit in the first five innings.

Wacha in the first five innings of his 10 starts this season has a 1.80 ERA, and opposing batters are hitting .171/.242/.282 against him. After that, in all of 13⅓ innings, Wacha's ERA is 4.05 and batters are hitting .283/.333/.453.

The Dodgers' lineup has a little bit of a switch on Thursday, with Yasmani Grandal batting second, with Justin Turner batting cleanup.

Howie Kendrick has the day off, with Kiké Hernandez starting at second base. Kendrick hurt his knee on a slide at third base in the second inning, on a single by Grandal. Kendrick scored on the play as the throw made it into the dugout.

"Sliding into third base he banged his knee, and it stiffened up as the game went on," manager Don Mattingly said. "I wanted to make sure to give him 24 hours."

Game info

Time: 7:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA, MLB Network