After going 8-1 on their homestand, the Los Angeles Dodgers begin a five-game road trip, with a stop at Oracle Park for their first clash of the year against the San Francisco Giants.
Though the Dodgers have played much better baseball as of late, they remain in third place in the National League West standings, trailing the first-place Giants by two games.
San Francisco is coming off a 19-4 victory over the Cincinnati Reds on Thursday, which marked the most runs scored by any team in baseball this season. “They’re playing good baseball right now. They’re not a team to take lightly,” Will Smith said of the Giants.
“We’re going to go in, play our game, keep doing what we’ve been doing. That’s just doing the little things well, executing on offense and defense, and just keep putting ourselves in good positions to win ballgames.”
Trevor Bauer gets the start in Friday’s series opener on an extra day of rest. He tied a season high with 113 pitches in his last outing against the Miami Marlins, tossing seven shutout innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Bauer enters with a 4-2 record, 2.20 ERA, 3.15 FIP, 0.75 WHIP and NL-best 77 strikeouts in 57.1 innings pitched this season. Having spent the majority of his career in the American League, Friday marks Bauer’s first career start against the Giants.
San Francisco counters with a familiar face in Alex Wood, who enjoyed two different stints as a member of the Dodgers from 2015-18 and 2020. He recently spoke on being excited of getting to experience the teams’ rivalry from the other side.
Wood is in the midst of a fantastic season, as he enters Friday at 5-0 with a 1.75 ERA, 2.75 FIP and 0.94 WHIP in six starts. He allowed one run on eight hits over six innings pitched in his most recent start against the Pittsburgh Pirates.
Wood has not faced the Dodgers since 2015, but owns a 2-0 record, 2.63 ERA and 1.39 WHIP with nine strikeouts in 13.2 innings against them over five career appearances (three starts).
Dodgers lineup
RF: Mookie Betts
LF: Chris Taylor
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Albert Pujols
C: Will Smith
SS: Gavin Lux
2B: Sheldon Neuse
CF: DJ Peters
P: Trevor Bauer
Giants lineup
RF: Mike Yastrzemski
C: Buster Posey
SS: Brandon Crawford
1B: Brandon Belt
3B: Evan Longoria
LF: Alex Dickerson
2B: Donovan Solano
CF: Mike Tauchman
P: Alex Wood
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