The Los Angeles Dodgers were able to earn a victory in Friday night’s series-opener at Dodger Stadium against the San Francisco Giants, hanging on for a 3-2 win.
The win was the Dodgers fourth straight and sixth in their last seven games, so they will look to keep that momentum going on Saturday when left-handers Alex Wood and Madison Bumgarner square off.
For the most part, Wood has not been able to replicate his success from 2017 this season, which is largely due to him not being 100 percent healthy. In 13 starts, Wood is 1-5 with a 4.43 ERA, 3.29 FIP and 1.19 WHIP with 66 strikeouts compared to 13 walks in 69 innings.
He has had mixed results against the Giants in his career, going 2-3 while posting a 4.53 ERA and 1.13 ERA in 11 games (seven starts). The last time he faced them at Dodger Stadium was his first start of the season on March 30, and it was his best one as he tossed eight shutout innings, allowing just one hit while striking out five without allowing a walk.
The Dodgers get their first look at Bumgarner, who missed a good chunk to start the season after fracturing his hand when being hit with a comebacker in Spring Training.
Bumgarner has only made two starts so far this season, so he is still getting back into the swing of things. He has yielded a 4.76 ERA, 3.44 FIP and 1.32 WHIP with six strikeouts and one walk in 11.1 innings so far.
The 28-year-old has faced the Dodgers 29 times (28 starts) in his career, going 15-9 with a 2.53 ERA and 1.03 WHIP.
Cody Bellinger is 1-for-3 with a walk in his career against Bumgarner, and he returns to the Dodgers lineup after getting a night off on Friday.
Kiké Hernandez has owned Bumgarner in his career, going 14-for-30 (.467 batting average) with three home runs against him. Yasiel Puig has also had some success against him posting a .244 batting average (10-for-44) with two home runs.
Giants first baseman Brandon Belt also returns to the lineup on Saturday after being activated from the disabled list. He missed the last couple of weeks after undergoing an emergency appendectomy.
Dodgers lineup:
SS: Chris Taylor
CF: Kiké Hernández
3B: Justin Turner
LF: Matt Kemp
RF: Yasiel Puig
1B: Cody Bellinger
2B: Logan Forsythe
C: Austin Barnes
P: Alex Wood
Giants lineup:
CF: Gorkys Hernandez
1B: Brandon Belt
RF: Andrew McCutchen
C: Buster Posey
SS: Brandon Crawford
LF: Mac Williamson
2B: Joe Panik
P: Madison Bumgarner
3B: Alen Hanson
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