The Los Angeles Dodgers exhausted their bullpen to get a victory in extra innings on Saturday and now can finish their road trip with a series win against the San Francisco Giants.
At minimum, the Dodgers already guaranteed themselves a winning road trip behind sweeping the Chicago White Sox and overcoming Tyler Glasnow’s worst start with the team. L.A. is 14-3 in their last 17 games at Oracle Park.
James Paxton looks to add onto that success in his 15th start of the season. The veteran left-hander enters 7-1 with a 3.39 ERA and 1.30 WHIP.
Paxton has fought walk issues throughout the year and is coming off an outing in which he gave out three free passes over five scoreless innings.
Paxton walked five and also allowed four hits when facing the Giants on April 1 for his Dodgers debut, but collected five strikeouts and pitched five shutout innings.
The Giants counter with Spencer Bivens, who is 1-1 with a 3.00 ERA and 1.11 WHIP in five career relief appearances. Sunday’s start is the first for the rookie right-hander.
It’s a second consecutive game in which the beleaguered Giants bullpen is being asked to collectively shoulder the pitching responsibility. The group leads all of baseball with 350.2 innings.
The Giants went into the weekend series without starters named for the final two games. Bivens likely will only pitch two innings in the opener role.
He faces a Dodgers lineup that features Teoscar Hernández batting second with Will Smith receiving the day off. Smith had a hit in each of the first two contests against the Giants after being held hitless three games in a row amid ongoing work with his swing.
Dodgers lineup
DH: Shohei Ohtani
LF: Teoscar Hernández
1B: Freddie Freeman
CF: Andy Pages
RF: Jason Heyward
2B: Gavin Lux
3B: Chris Taylor
SS: Kiké Hernández
C: Austin Barnes
Giants lineup
DH: Jorge Soler
RF: Austin Slater
CF: Heliot Ramos
C: Patrick Bailey
3B: Matt Chapman
LF: Luis Matos
1B: David Villar
SS: Nick Ahmed
2B: Tyler Fitzgerald
Have you subscribed to the Dodger Blue YouTube channel? Be sure to ring the notification bell to watch player interviews, participate in shows and giveaways, and stay up to date on all Dodgers news and rumors!
