Clayton Kershaw and Dodgers look to finish first half on high note

LOS ANGELES —— A little more than three months ago, under a bright blue sky, Clayton Kershaw walked to the mound at Dodger Stadium and made his first pitch to that opened the 2017 season.

The Dodgers would win that game 14-3 behind Kershaw’s pitching and the four home runs they hit that day.

That game saw three things that would symbolize the first half of this Dodger season, a win at home, Kershaw adding to his win total and the Dodgers hitting home runs.

Now, three months later, Kershaw will go to the mound in a few hours trying to continue those trends. Kershaw has 13 wins thus far, if he collects his 14th this afternoon, he will become the first Los Angeles Dodger to win 14 or more games in the first half since Sandy Koufax won 15 in 1966.

With 38 wins at home, the Dodgers will try to continue their quest to match the 1953 Brooklyn Dodger record of 60 wins at home.

The Dodgers have hit 124 home runs, they are five behind their franchise first half record of 129 set in 2000.

Since June 7th, the Dodgers are 25-4 and they have moved from trailing Colorado by two games and in a second place with Arizona, to first place and a 6½ game lead over Arizona and a 9½ game lead over Colorado.

Clayton Kershaw vs. Danny Duffy part two

Kershaw and Danny Duffy faced each other in Kansas City in 2014 and that remains the only time either pitcher has faced the other team. Kershaw and Dodgers shut out the Royals 2-0 that night.

As for the players that faced Kershaw and Duffy that night, only Justin Turner and Yasiel Puig remain for the Dodgers while Eric Hosmer, who had two singles in that game, Lorenzo Cain, Alex Gordon, and Salvador Perez also faced Kershaw that one time. Jorge Soler, as a Cub, is 1-for-4 with a triple against Kershaw.

Cody Bellinger chases first half LA Dodger home run record

This is more of a fun fact but with his 25th home run on Saturday, Cody Bellinger tied Eric Karros for third in the most home runs by a LA Dodger in the first half. Bellinger is chasing Gary Sheffield, who set the record with 27 in 2000 and Shawn Green, who had 26 home runs in 2002.

The Dodger franchise record is 28 home runs and that is held by both Gil Hodges who did it first in 1951 and Duke Snider, who tied the record in 1955.

Game info

Time: 1:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA