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The Dodgers try to avoid a 12th straight defeat on Tuesday night, with a lineup that is pretty much more of the same against the Giants at AT&T Park in San Francisco.
Curtis Granderson starts in left field for the Dodgers, this time batting sixth instead of leading off. Granderson is 8-for-72 (.111) as a Dodger. He is 4-for-21 (.190) against Johnny Cueto, but with three home runs and five walks has a .346 on-base percentage and .619 career slugging percentage against the right-hander.
Starting lineups
| Pos | Dodgers | Pos | Giants |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pos | Dodgers | Pos | Giants |
| CF | Taylor | CF | Hernandez |
| SS | Seager (L) | 2B | Panik (L) |
| 3B | Turner | RF | Pence |
| 1B | Bellinger (L) | 1B | Posey |
| RF | Puig | C | Hundley |
| LF | Granderson (L) | LF | Slater |
| C | Grandal (S) | 3B | Calixte |
| 2B | Utley (L) | SS | Tomlinson |
| P | Kershaw (L) | P | Cueto |
Yasmani Grandal, 1-for-26 in September, gets the start after catching until 2 a.m. in the series opener. Grandal also walked three times in Monday night’s contest.
Chase Utley, a career .303/.373/.457 hitter in 51 PA against Cueto, starts at second base on Tuesday. Maybe he’ll actually get to bat in this start, unlike Monday.
Corey Seager is 10-for-25 against Cueto with a home run and a double.
The Dodgers need a win to avoid some dubious history in what is one of the weirdest seasons in recent memory.
The longest losing streak ever for a playoff team is 11, set by the 1951 Giants and 1982 Braves, as noted by Jared Diamond of the Wall Street Journal. No team has ever reached the postseason after losing 12 consecutive games, so the Dodgers are poised to make history in yet another way in 2017.
Since the start of 2011, only eight other MLB teams lost 12 straight games in one season, topping out at 17 straight by the 2011 Mariners. Those eight teams averaged 100 losses, with the 2012 Royals — losers of 12 straight games — topping the bunch at 72-90.