Clayton Kershaw takes on familiar foe in series finale

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers will try to win their weekend series against the San Francisco Giants this afternoon with Clayton Kershaw making another start against them. Kershaw will be making his 40th career start against the Giants, by far the most by any starting pitcher against San Francisco since 2008.

Ian Kennedy and Jorge De La Rosa have made the second-most starts against the Giants during those years with 26 starts apiece against the Giants.

In Kershaw’s prior 39 starts, he’s averaged 7⅓ innings per start with a 1.62 ERA. He has a total of 301 strikeouts against 43 walks in those games. In 2017, he’s made four prior starts against the Giants, pitching 26 innings with a 1.73 ERA with 23 strikeouts and two walks.

Because of all of those starts, two Giants are at the top of the list of players who have had the most plate appearances against him, Buster Posey and Hunter Pence. Posey has 101 plate appearances against him with a .248/.283/.366 batting line against him.

Pence has 77 plate appearances with a .344 OPS against Kershaw. Pence has one home run and 17 strikeouts against Kershaw.

The Dodgers will face right-hander Chris Stratton who is making his second career start against the Dodgers, his first was the abbreviated game on September 11th, when he struck out Curtis Granderson and then the game was delayed two hours and 52 minutes. Stratton did not return after the delay.

The Dodgers have already guaranteed a season series win over the Giants with ten wins against eight losses this season, the last time they won a season series over the Giants was in 2014.

Game info

Time: 1:10 p.m. PT

TV: SportsNet LA