After finishing 7-2 on their first road trip of the season, the Los Angeles Dodgers now return home and welcome the San Francisco Giants to town once again for their second series of the year at Dodger Stadium.
Julio Urias is on the mound for the Dodgers in the series opener on Friday night, making his third start of the season. The lefty faced the Giants in his first start, tossing five innings of one-run ball while allowing five hits with three walks and three strikes.
He then followed that up with another solid start against the Arizona Diamondbacks, pitching six innings while giving up five hits and two runs with five strikeouts and a walk. Overall in his two starts, Urias has yielded a 2.45 ERA, 2.67 FIP and 1.27 WHIP with eight strikeouts and four walks in 11 innings.
The 23-year-old has had a lot of success against the Giants in his career, pitching to a 1.40 ERA and 1.24 WHIP with 37 strikeouts and 17 walks in 38.2 innings across 13 appearances (seven starts).
Brandon Belt is the only Giants player that has success against Urias, going 3-for-10 with a double, home run and seven walks against him.
Getting the start for the Giants is veteran right-hander Jeff Samardzija, and he is looking to get on track after two rough starts to begin the year. Samardzija allowed five runs in four innings to the San Diego Padres in his season debut, and then followed that up with a 5.2-inning outing with five earned runs against the Texas Rangers to give him a 9.31 ERA and 1.35 WHIP.
The 35-year-old has faced the Dodgers 11 times (nine starts) in his career, going 2-5 with a 3.83 ERA and 1.20 WHIP with 47 strikeouts and 15 walks in 54 innings.
Cody Bellinger, Max Muncy and Joc Pederson have all taken Samardzija deep once in their respective careers, with AJ Pollock homering off him twice. The Dodgers’ offense hasn’t begun clicking on all cylinders yet, although they still lead the National League with 22 home runs and rank third with 70 runs scored.
Mookie Betts returns to the lineup for the Dodgers after missing the last three games due to a finger injury. He was swinging a hot bat before getting hurt, hitting safely in seven straight games while batting .379/.455/.759 with five doubles and two home runs.
Dodgers lineup:
LF: Joc Pederson
RF: Mookie Betts
CF: Cody Bellinger
DH: Justin Turner
SS: Corey Seager
1B: Max Muncy
2B: Chris Taylor
3B: Edwin Rios
C: Will Smith
Giants lineup:
RF: Austin Slater
CF: Mike Yastrzemski
2B: Donovan Solano
3B: Evan Longoria
DH: Wilmer Flores
1B: Brandon Belt
LF: Darin Ruf
C: Chadwick Tromp
SS: Mauricio Dubon
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