Dodgers conclude series with Nationals on ESPN ‘Sunday Night Baseball’

LOS ANGELES — The Dodgers and Nationals play the rubber game of their weekend series on national television, with an eye on getting a head start. Sunday’s game is an evening start, shown exclusively on ESPN’s ‘Sunday Night Baseball.’

Joc Pederson‘s home run on Saturday came in the second inning, continuing a trend of late. The Dodgers have scored in the first or second inning in eight of their last nine contests.

The Dodgers are 9-2 when scoring first this season, but 0-8 when the opponent scored first. They only have one comeback win all season — San Diego led 2-1 briefly last Monday in a game the Dodgers won 10-3 — after a league-leading 47 comeback victories last year.

Last year the Dodgers were 70-17 (.805) when scoring first and 34-41 (.453) when their opponent scored first.

Washington this year is 9-6 when scoring first, and 1-4 when their opponents score first.

Matt Kemp is 10-for-20 (.500) with two home runs, a double and two walks in the first three innings this season, including 6-for-8 (.750) with a home run and a double in the first inning.

Pitching matchup

Jeremy Hellickson makes his second start for the Nationals in Sunday’s series finale. He allowed a pair of runs in his 4⅔ innings on Monday against the Mets. He allowed a run in the first inning.

Alex Wood takes his 22-to-1 strikeout-to-walk ratio into Sunday night and a 56.9% ground ball rate through four starts that would be the highest of his career.

Game info

Time: 5:08 p.m. PT

TV: ESPN