After defeating the St. Louis Cardinals in the opener of a three-game series at Dodger Stadium, the Los Angeles Dodgers enter play on Saturday tied with the San Francisco Giants for first place in the National League West.
The win was the Dodgers’ second straight, and another against the Cardinals will give Los Angeles their first three-game winning streak since April 13-15 when they picked up victories over the Arizona Diamondbacks and Giants.
Scott Kazmir takes the mound for his eighth start of the season. In what’s been a rocky tenure in his first year with the Dodgers, Kazmir is 2-3 with 5.54 ERA, 5.57 FIP and 1.42 WHIP to go along with 36 strikeouts and 12 walks.
He’s a lifetime 1-0 with a 4.09 ERA over two starts against the Cardinals. The southpaw has allowed five runs on nine hits and totaled 10 strikeouts over 11 innings in the two starts. Kazmir is 0-3 with a 5.17 ERA at Dodger Stadium this season.
The Cardinals counter with Carlos Martinez, who is starting on seven days’ rest after being removed from his previous outing due to fatigue. Martinez is 4-2 with a 2.61 ERA, 3.82 FIP and 0.97 WHIP.
In six career games (five starts) against the Dodgers, the 24 year old is 2-1 with a 2.89 ERA and 32 strikeouts in 28 innings. He faces a lineup that did plenty of damage on Friday, though the Cardinals also committed four errors.
Yasiel Puig went 3-for-5 with one home run and two RBIs and is starting once again, but is dropped to seventh in the lineup. Puig is 3-for-5 with a walk against Martinez in his career. Carl Crawford, who returns after two games off, is 2-for-3.
Cardinals veterans Matt Holliday and Yadier Molina are swinging hot bats. Holliday is 9-for-19 in the past four games, while Molina is 9-for-16.
Dodgers lineup:
2B: Chase Utley
SS: Corey Seager
3B: Justin Turner
1B: Adrian Gonzalez
C: Yasmani Grandal
CF: Joc Pederson
RF: Yasiel Puig
LF: Carl Crawford
P: Scott Kazmir
Cardinals lineup:
3B: Matt Carpenter
RF: Stephen Piscotty
LF: Matt Holliday
1B: Brandon Moss
C: Yadier Molina
CF: Randal Grichuk
2B: Jedd Gyorko
SS: Aledmys Diaz
P: Carlos Martinez
