Brandon McCarthy makes his return to the mound

LOS ANGELES --- Today will mark something that has not happened since 2003 when Darren Dreifort came back from Tommy John surgery to start 10 games for the Dodgers.

Since then, no Dodger starting pitcher who had Tommy John surgery during his major league Dodger career has made his return as a starter.  Brandon McCarthy will be the fourth Dodger pitcher to make his return at the major league level:  the others are Tommy John, John Tudor and Dreifort.

Brandon McCarthy will become the 22nd pitcher to take the mound for the Dodgers and the 11th starting pitcher this season.  Last season, the Dodgers had 31 pitchers and 16 of them made at least one start for the Dodgers.

After last night's game, manager Dave Roberts said there were no set pitch limit or other limitation on McCarthy.  Roberts also said Julio Urias will start on Monday against the Baltimore Orioles but they are not ready to announce Tuesday's starter.

The Dodgers will attempt to end this series and this week on a winning note.  The Dodgers have won eight straight at home, they have not won more than eight in a row at home since a 13-game streak in April/May 2009.

One thing the Dodgers will have to do in the second half of the season is play better against National League West division teams.  Until this series against the Rockies, the Dodgers were just 16-15 against the West.

Corey Seager has a 15-game hitting streak, two Los Angeles Dodger rookies had 16-game hitting streaks, Steve Sax in 1982 and Andre Ethier in 2006.  Tommy Davis had the longest Los Angeles Dodger rookie hitting streak at 20 games in 1960.

Game info

Time: 1:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA