The Los Angeles Dodgers suffered another loss to the San Francisco Giants at AT&T Park, and now are just 4-17 in their past 21 games on the banks of McCovey Cove. Clayton Kershaw, who starts Tuesday, earned the win in three of those four victories.
But perhaps taking precedent over a Kershaw start, which is no easy task, is the arrival of Cody Bellinger. The Dodgers promoted their top position-player prospect from Triple-A Oklahoma City, sending Brett Eibner back to the Minors.
Joe Gunkel was designated for assignment to clear room for Bellinger on the 40-man roster. Bellinger starts in left field and bats eighth in his MLB debut.
The 21-year-old was on a tear with Oklahoma City this season, batting .343/.429/.627 with four doubles, five home runs and 15 RBIs over 18 games. He ranked second on the team in home runs and tied for fourth in the Pacific Coast League.
Bellinger is primarily a first baseman, but is expected to log time in left field and center field during Joc Pederson’s stint on the disabled list.
As for Kershaw, he enters 3-1 with a 2.54 ERA, 2.71 FIP, 0.74 WHIP, and 32 strikeouts compared to just two walks in 28.1 innings this season. Kershaw has dominated the Giants throughout his career, to the tune of an 18-8 record, 1.61 ERA and 0.81 WHIP in 36 games (35 starts).
He has been particularly effective at AT&T Park, yielding a 1.36 ERA in 18 career games (17 starts). The only Giants player who has had a bit off success off Kershaw is Buster Posey, who is 19-for-72 (.264 batting average) with two home runs.
Tuesday’s matchup was expected to a duel between left-handed aces, but Madison Bumgarner suffered multiple injuries in a dirt bike accident and was placed on the disabled list. The Giants instead hand the ball to Ty Blach for his first start of the season.
The 26-year-old has allowed three runs in 5.2 innings (4.76 ERA) over seven relief appearances thus far. Blanch faced the Dodgers last season in what was just his second career start. The young lefty turned in eight shutout innings, yielding just three hits and one walk while striking out six to earn a win.
That afternoon, Kershaw allowed three runs (two earned) on six hits in seven innings, suffering the loss. Adrian Gonzalez and Yasiel Puig are the only Dodgers with a hit off Blach. Justin Turner will need to scratch in order to extend his hitting streak to 11 games.
That would match Turner’s career-long hitting streak, set during the 2011 season.
Dodgers lineup:
CF: Kiké Hernandez
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
RF: Yasiel Puig
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
C: Yasmani Grandal
2B: Chris Taylor
LF: Cody Bellinger
P: Clayton Kershaw
Giants lineup:
RF: Hunter Pence
3B: Christian Arroyo
LF: Eduardo Nuñez
1B: Buster Posey
SS: Brandon Crawford
C: Nick Hundley
2B: Joe Panik
CF: Drew Stubbs
P: Ty Blach
