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The Dodgers return to Dodger Stadium for their final homestand of the regular season, beginning with three games against the rival Giants. Here is a look at the probable pitching matchups for this weekend series in Los Angeles.
Friday, 7:10 p.m. PT (SportsNet LA)
Rich Hill gets the opener on Friday, making what will be the Dodgers’ 100th start by a left-handed pitcher in 2017. This is the second time in franchise history the Dodgers have had 100 starts by left-handed pitchers, trailing only the 1965 team’s 112 starts.
Good for the Giants: Jeff Samardzija leads the National League in strikeout-to-walk ratio (6.79) and is second in innings pitched (197⅓), proving to be every bit the workhorse that San Francisco signed to a five-year, $90 million deal before 2016. The bad: Samardzija is tied for sixth in the NL with 28 home runs allowed and has a 4.42 ERA despite pitching his home games in one of the friendliest pitching environments in the game.
Saturday, 6:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA, MLB Network)
Hyun-jin Ryu continues his bid for a postseason roster spot, sporting a 2.36 ERA in nine starts since the All-Star break, with opposing batters hitting .218/.303/.330 during that time.
You know it’s been a rough year for the Giants when Madison Bumgarner is 3-9 despite a 3.48 ERA. He has 11 quality starts in his 16 outings this season — posting a 2.40 ERA in those games, averaging 6.82 innings per start — but the Giants have lost 10 of those 11 games.
Sunday, 1:10 p.m. (SportsNet LA)
Clayton Kershaw enters Sunday six strikeouts shy of his seventh 200-strikeout season. He also enters the series finale with a 3.74 ERA in four September starts since his return from the disabled list, his highest ERA in any month since May 2015 (3.97).
In his start last week against the Dodgers, Chris Stratton only lasted one batter — a strikeout — because of a nearly three-hour rain delay. Since the beginning of August, the right-hander has a 2.38 ERA with 34 strikeouts and 16 walks in 34 innings.