Article courtesy OddsShark (@OddsShark)
The last time the Los Angeles Dodgers (61-40) and San Francisco Giants (62-37) met in a key divisional series a week ago, the former trailed the latter by one game in the race for the National League West lead. And the Dodgers have opened as -135 road favorites on the MLB odds at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com for Tuesday’s first of three games against the Giants despite dropping three of the four games of the previous series at home (how the moneyline works).
San Francisco continues to lead the NL West by two games going into this one. The expectation obviously continues to be that Los Angeles is the superior team as the eight-time defending division champion, and that the reigning World Series champ will wake up at some point to take over the lead. The big question is, will it happen this week or sometime soon?
Dodgers vs. Giants | OddsShark Matchup Report
Los Angeles will have one of its best starting pitchers heading to the mound in the series opener, as Julio Urias (12-3, 3.63 ERA) leads the team in wins. Urias is unbeaten in his past five starts, although the Dodgers lost his last time out versus the Giants on Wednesday as he allowed only one run and three hits in seven innings with one walk and five strikeouts. San Francisco won 4-2 on a two-run home run from Wilmer Flores off closer Kenley Jansen.
Jansen (1-3, 2.97 ERA, 22 saves) has been shaky of late, putting his future in question after suffering losses in two of his last three appearances. Logan Webb (4-3, 3.54 ERA) started for the Giants opposite Urias in that last game, and he gave up two runs and three hits in five innings with three walks and five strikeouts. Webb gets the call again in this series opener at home, where he has gone 2-0 with a stellar 1.64 ERA, and opposing batters have hit just .195 against him.
In Wednesday’s pitching matchup, it will be Walker Buehler (10-1, 2.31 ERA) for Los Angeles against Anthony DeSclafani (10-4, 2.87 ERA) before undefeated David Price (4-0, 3.35 ERA) battles Johnny Cueto (6-5, 4.09 ERA) in Thursday’s matinee finale. San Francisco reliever Jose Alvarez picked up the last two wins of the previous series while Jansen blew two saves and took the losses.
The Dodgers had won six of the first nine meetings with the Giants this year before losing three of four in the last series. The OVER went 2-1-1 at online betting sites in that series too after the UNDER cashed in the previous two meetings on June 28 and 29.
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